The UK renews £1.6M for Cambodia mine action

Thousands of Cambodian farming families will live and work more safely as the UK renews its commitment to mine action in Cambodia, now in its fourth decade of support with an estimated total contribution of £65 million (over USD 85 Read More …

Afghanistan: Saving lives in Helmand’s most conflict-affected communities

In the south of Afghanistan, Helmand Province was once at the centre of heavy fighting between the Taliban and NATO and the Afghan National Army (ANA) forces. Until 2021, NATO and the ANA tried to expel the Taliban from their Read More …

International aid cuts hobble drive to declare Zimbabwe mine-free

Zimbabwe was set to become the second contaminated country to be declared landmine-free last year – Mozambique led the way in 2015 – but funding cuts by the United States and other international donors has slowed progress. The HALO Trust Read More …

Sri Lanka: Life in a land of landmines

Sri Lanka looks like a droplet frozen in time. That very shape is a haunting reminder of the tears shed during decades of civil war. The emblem of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, which waged the war, was a Read More …

UK charity to expand work to clear explosives in Gaza

The Gaza Strip will need extensive work to remove explosives and reconstruct amid the “immense” level of devastation caused by the war, the world’s largest landmine-clearing charity has said. The Halo Trust will be expanding its activities in the Palestinian Read More …

Libya: Lack of funding hinders mine clearance despite efforts by international organizations

An analytical report published by the English-speaking Senegalese “African Press Agency” has highlighted the ongoing threat of explosive remnants of war in Libya, which have posed a direct danger to civilian lives since 2011. Widespread Presence of Unexploded Ordnance The Read More …

Afghanistan: ANDMA Launches Extensive Mine Survey, Clearance Program In Five Provinces

The Afghanistan National Disaster Management Authority (ANDMA) has launched a comprehensive program to survey and clear mine-contaminated areas in the provinces of Bamyan, Logar, Ghazni, Helmand, and Ghor. The initiative will be implemented based on a memorandum of understanding between Read More …

Sri Lanka: Japan extends its support for humanitarian demining activities in North – East

Charge d’ Affaires ad interim of Japan to Sri Lanka Kamoshida Naoaki signed grant contracts for two demining projects with the Mines Advisory Group (MAG) and the HALO Trust (HALO) under the scheme of “Grant Assistance for Grassroots Human Security Read More …

Cambodia: Battambang farmer unearths 250-pound US bomb, as UK assesses demining funding

HALO Trust Cambodia responded to an unusual Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) call-out over the weekend, when a farmer excavating his land in Battambang province’s Samlout district discovered a Mk81 bomb. The district is one of the most landmine contaminated areas Read More …

Cambodia: 40-year-old spy satellite photos are helping find forgotten land mines

Declassified images from U.S. military satellites are helping find forgotten mine fields in Cambodia. From the late 1960s almost until the end of the 1990s, a bloody war between communist groups and democracy defenders raged, with a few short breaks, Read More …

€5m German boost for HALO landmine clearance in Syria

HALO’s programme will expand to save lives across the country in response to soaring accidents caused by explosives The German Federal Foreign Office (GFFO) supports the HALO Trust in Syria with a €5M grant to boost vital mine clearance efforts Read More …

Ukraine’s minefields must be a priority at Munich meeting

Clearing the deadly debris of war should be a key goal of delegates at the Munich Security Conference, the head of the world’s largest landmine clearance charity, The HALO Trust, said today. HALO CEO and former British General James Cowan: Read More …

Syria: Explosive remnants of civil war pose a daunting challenge

Almost 14 years of civil war contaminated swathes of the Syrian Arab Republic with roughly 324,600 unexploded rockets and bombs and thousands of landmines, according to a 2023 estimate by the US-based Carter Center. In the last four years alone, Read More …

Syria: Legacy of war still causing mass death and injury, says landmine clearance charity

At least 80 civilians, including 12 children, have been killed by landmines and other explosive debris of war in the month since the Syrian strongman Bashar Al-Assad was toppled on December 8 last year. According to Mouiad Alnofaly, HALO’s Operations Read More …

‘That’s one I laid’ – How ex-Taliban are helping IED clear-up in Afghanistan

Former Taliban fighters are now helping the world’s largest landmine-clearing charity locate bombs which they planted during the long war against coalition forces in Afghanistan. One of the Halo Trust’s leaders has told how during a journey to investigate a Read More …

Syria: Expert warns of ‘massive’ risk from unexploded ordnance

The extent of unexploded ordnance littering Syria will be “massive” and poses a particular threat to children returning to the country, a landmine-clearing leader has warned. Since the fall of the Assad regime last weekend, the Halo Trust has seen Read More …

Don’t condemn the US decision to give anti-personnel mines to Ukraine

In Ukraine, it’s not just the frontline that’s a minefield. The decision of the United States to offer landmines to Ukraine, a signatory of the landmine ban treaty, creates as much of a diplomatic minefield as a military one. Landmines Read More …

Historic mine ban treaty at risk as clearance rates plummet amid escalating global conflict

The HALO Trust, the international landmine clearance organisation, has called for global recommitment to the Landmine Ban Treaty following a 10 per cent drop in the number of anti-personnel mines cleared in 2023. The steep fall in landmines cleared is Read More …

Ukraine: Three bomb disposal technicians from HALO Trust hospitalized after hitting mine in Kherson region

Three bomb disposal technicians from The HALO Trust organization, involved in humanitarian mine clearance operations in Kherson region, hit a Russian mine, Head of Kherson Regional Military Administration Oleksandr Prokudin has said. “A 24-year-old man was seriously wounded in head Read More …

Afghanistan: Landmines, remnants of war still threaten lives of Ghazni residents

Residents of southern Ghazni province are concerned about the existence of landmines and unexploded war remnants and urge the government and other relevant institutions to clear and destroy the explosives. They say areas which were the scene of battles remain Read More …