A landmine clearance charity will be given £7 million to continue its “life-saving” work in Ukraine and Afghanistan. The UK Government cash for the Hazardous Area Life-support Organisation (Halo) Trust will enable the charity to make land safe for agriculture in Ukraine, and to restore basic services affected by the threat of explosives in Afghanistan.
Development minister Anneliese Dodds also announced an additional £250,000 for one Halo project, which aims to dispose of 165 tons of unusable, unsafe ammunition and explosives from Hargeisa, the capital of Somaliland, Africa.
Read more…
Source: The Standard News
Sign up for Counter-IED Report Newsletter
Related:
- Lebanon: Deminers back in action as critical task awaits in southern Lebanon
December 6, 2024
Despite the fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, most of the Lebanese people displaced over the past three months have already started returning to their homes. However, for most, it is not a happy homecoming. According to the World Bank, up to 100,000 buildings have been destroyed or damaged, a quarter of the country has been ...
- Czechs have raised over €8 million for drones for Ukraine in one year
December 5, 2024
The Czech initiative to raise funds for the purchase of drones for the Ukrainian military has raised more than CZK 203 million (over €8 million) to date. Skupina D, an organisation that organises a fundraiser called Drone Nemesis, on Thursday, as reported by European Pravda, citing Radio Prague International. The organisation also introduced a new project ...
- Demining Ukraine’s Farmland: Progress, Adaptation, and Needs
December 5, 2024
More than one thousand days into Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, landmine and explosive remnants of war (ERW) contamination on Ukrainian farmland remains a complex and pervasive challenge for Ukraine’s farmers and government, its allies, and the global mine action community. Yet progress, both in survey and clearance operations and in coordinating support among Ukraine’s partners, ...
- UNIFIL and UNMAS hail partnership in demining in south Lebanon
December 4, 2024
The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) and the UN Mine Action Service (UNMAS) today highlighted the achievements realized together in south Lebanon while vowing to continue the dangerous but life-saving undertaking of clearing landmines. UNIFIL Head of Mission and Force Commander Major General Michael Beary hailed mine action activities conducted jointly with UNMAS and ...
- Ukraine: Demining coalition agrees on nine-year roadmap for assistance
December 2, 2024
Participants in the ninth meeting of the Demining Coalition, co-chaired by Lithuania and Iceland, discussed Ukraine’s needs for equipment and weapons, and also agreed on the Roadmap for Assistance for 2025-2034. This was reported by the Ministry of Defense. The event brought together representatives of 14 countries, as well as officials from the NATO Security Assistance ...
- Cross-Border Humanitarian Demining
November 29, 2024
This guide is intended to advance the clearance of landmines from border areas when there is political will to do so. More specifically, it is meant inform affected states, as well as donor states, of some of the various approaches and frameworks for planning and implementing cross-border or near-border demining activities. It also identifies some of ...
- Cambodia: Summit on Mine-Free World marks historic commitment to eradicating landmine threats
November 29, 2024
Over 600 participants from 105 countries have convened in Siem Reap for a summit focused on the global campaign to clear landmines. With over 5,000 victims annually and 33 nations still facing landmine hazards, the summit calls for increased international cooperation and resources to protect future generations from the explosive remnants of war. On Wednesday, Ly ...
- Japan donates equipment to enhance Somali Police Force’s mine action unit
November 22, 2024
The Japanese government has donated critical equipment to Somalia’s Police Force Mine Action Unit, to strengthen its capacity to detect and neutralize explosive devices in the country. Somali Police Chief Brigadier General Asad Osman Abdullahi received the equipment during a ceremony in Mogadishu on Thursday. He thanked Japan for its support, describing the donation as vital ...
- Cambodia: CMAA commits to help Myanmar with mine clearance efforts
November 22, 2024
The First Vice-President of the Cambodian Mine Action and Victim Assistance Authority (CMAA) and president of the Ottawa Convention for 2024 Ly Thuch reaffirmed his commitment to continuing communication with relevant parties and assisting in mine clearance efforts in Myanmar, regardless of political, religious, or economic status. During a press conference at the CMAA office of ...
- Cambodia, Vietnam strengthen mine action cooperation at Hanoi talks
November 19, 2024
Senior Minister Ly Thuch, first vice-president of the Cambodian Mine Action and Victim Assistance Authority (CMAA), held talks with Vietnamese Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Do Hung to strengthen bilateral cooperation on mine action and reaffirm commitments to peace-building efforts. The meeting, which included Cambodian ambassador to Vietnam Chea Kimtha and Juan Carlos Ruan, director of ...
- Ukraine: Japan’s ambassador meets with State Emergency Service to discuss humanitarian demining
November 15, 2024
The newly appointed Ambassador of Japan to Ukraine, Masashi Nakagome, discussed humanitarian demining with the leadership of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine. Representatives from the Japanese Embassy delegation arrived at the Mine Action Office of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine, where they met with the leadership of the agency and discussed the prospects of ...
- Vietnam and India’s engineers coordinate mine clearance to ensure peacekeeping forces
November 13, 2024
Engineer forces of Vietnam and India have coordinated together to practice clearing mines and explosives, ensuring safety for United Nations peacekeeping forces. This is the main content of the exercise situation that the engineering forces of Vietnam and India have just organized training and demonstration. This content is within the framework of the Vietnam-India Bilateral Exercise ...
- Afghanistan: Mine Clearance Organization warns of IED contamination
November 12, 2024
The Mine Clearance Organization recently announced that over 65 square kilometers of land in Afghanistan is contaminated with improvised explosive devices (IEDs). The organization has called on the global community to increase political and financial support for clearing these devices from Afghanistan’s lands. According to the Mine Clearance Organization, more than 65 square kilometers across 26 ...
- Key findings from the Clearing the Mines 2024 report
November 12, 2024
As of today, 58 States and two territories remain contaminated with anti-personnel mines, and the need for focused and unwavering commitment to get all of them over the finish line by completing clearance is as important as ever. In 2023, global mine clearance of 237 square kilometres was the highest ever recorded, with 192,563 AP mines ...
- Historic mine ban treaty at risk as clearance rates plummet amid escalating global conflict
November 11, 2024
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 reported in Mine Action Review’s “Clearing the Mines” report, which will be published today by a ...
- India: Digital University Kerala researchers develop mine-detection technology
November 8, 2024
A team of researchers from the Digital University Kerala (DUK) have come up with a technology to detect buried explosives with minimum human involvement. The technology can be put to use even in the most rugged and forested areas, thereby, reducing risk for people involved in de-mining and also clearing large areas in the shortest time. ...
- The European Union and Cambodia standing together for a mine-free future
November 7, 2024
Cambodia is at peace today, but for 40,000 Cambodian amputees, the past wars are still with them every day, visible on their bodies. Mobility, dignity, family and economic integration are all affected by the scourge of mines. The EU and its Member States are major donors for mine action assistance worldwide, supporting universalisation, survey and clearance ...
- Lao children the most common victims of unexploded ordnance accidents, statistics reveal
November 5, 2024
More than 60 percent of the people who were injured or killed this year when unexploded forms of munition were accidentally detonated were children, officials reported at a meeting held in Vientiane last week. The meeting was attended by Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Mr Phoxay Khaykhamphithoune, United Nations Development Programme Representative Mrs Martine Thérer, and ...
- German foreign minister announces €200 million in winter aid for Ukraine
November 4, 2024
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock announced the allocation of €200 million in additional winter aid to Ukraine during a visit to Kyiv on Monday, 4 November. The €200 million will be used to increase the German Foreign Office’s emergency humanitarian aid to heat homes near the front line and to “provide Ukrainians with basic necessities such ...
- UN: 444 million square meters in Libya still contaminated with mines, war remnants
November 4, 2024
The United Nations (UN) has emphasized that Libya faces major challenges related to mines and war remnants, which threaten the lives of civilians and hinder development, and that getting rid of them requires tremendous work, noting that there are more than 444 million square meters still contaminated with mines and war remnants. The Chief of the ...
- Ukraine receives 500 pickup trucks and mine detection vehicles from Lithuania
November 4, 2024
Ukraine received 230 pickup trucks and 240 mine detection vehicles from the Lithuanian-led demining coalition. Ukraine’s Defence Minister Rustem Umierov on Telegram. The transfer of demining equipment took place during the visit of Lithuanian Defence Minister Laurynas Kasčiūnas to Kyiv. The demining coalition encompasses elements of both humanitarian mine clearance in Ukraine’s liberated territories and combat ...
- Somalia: Pioneering Mine Action for Safer Communities in Puntland
November 2, 2024
Celebrating the contribution of women in the mine action sector! Meet Fatuma, SEMA Operations Officer, who is leading mine clearance in Puntland State to raise awareness about the risks of landmines and enhance humanitarian access to mine affected areas. The Somali Explosives Management Authority (SEMA) plays a crucial role in supporting mine action efforts in Somalia, ...