The funding raised through the Radio 4 appeal helped us recruit and train additional field teams in northwest Syria, including a strong contingent of women, ahead of this year’s olive harvesting season.
Radio 4 listeners' generous response to HALO’s Syria appeal in June 2018 raised £18,804 to help reduce the threat to civilians of landmines and other explosive debris in northwest Syria. More than 10 million men, women and children in Syria (one in two people) are now exposed to the risk of death or serious injury from explosives as a direct consequence of the conflict that started in 2011. These lethal dangers include unexploded cluster bombs, rockets, grenades, landmines and improvised explosive devices.
For the past two years, HALO has been working in northwest Syria, employing teams recruited from local towns and cities, delivering risk education classes to vulnerable communities. Through these classes HALO is improving their awareness of dangers and encouraging safe behaviour. Among those HALO has reached are displaced populations forced to flee their homes due to fighting, farm workers whose fields are contaminated with unexploded bombs, and children, whose natural curiosity puts them at risk from seemingly safe (but deadly) items like small cluster bombs.
HALO’s work in northwest Syria also includes surveys of communities to map the places where explosives are a danger and interviewing survivors of explosive accidents to help arrange medical and psychological care. Over the past two years, HALO’s field teams have delivered awareness education sessions to 130,000 adults and children, surveyed more than 200 communities to identify the impact of explosive contamination, and interviewed survivors from over 500 accidents. Our ongoing work has identified the vast majority of accident survivors had not received awareness education prior to their accident, highlighting the importance of a long term commitment to support vulnerable communities.
You can find out more about the charity by .