Photo by: Courtesy of Gorm K Gaare. Miss Landmine contestant So Yeu, 35, is from Kampong Cham province’s Chhoeung Prey district.By Sam Rith
The Phnom Penh
Organisers of the beauty pageant claim it will raise public awareness of the challenges facing land mine victims, but doubts persist about the long-term effects on participants and society.
THE second annual Miss Landmine beauty pageant, a controversial event that debuted in Angola last year, will open in Cambodia next month, with organisers saying they hope the event will raise awareness about the continuing risk of land mines around the globe.
"I believe it is a good way of looking at things in a new and different way ... [to see] these women as strong, glamorous and beautiful," said Norwegian artist Morten Traavik, who organised the first Miss Landmine pageant.
"It will make a contribution to how the rest of society will look at them ... Society will feel that these women can do anything."
The contest, which has support from the Ministry of Social Affairs, Veterans and Youth Rehabilitation, the Ministry of Women's Affairs, the Cambodian Mine Action Centre and the Cambodian Disabled People's Organisation, has been designed to highlight the difficulties faced by female land mine victims.
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