National Geographic Slovenia January 2012 No-one knows how much land is planted with landmines and unexploded ordnance. The most what experts dare say is that 83 countries – nearly half of the countries in the World – have problems with these lethal objects. ITF (International Trust Fund for Demining and Mine Victims) as a reference model has been recognized by donor communities, including the European Commission – as well as the recipients of the aid and the expert public. Namely, ITF has achieved very concrete results: Macedonia, Montenegro, Albania and Serbia are landmine-free, which accomplishes one of its goals. But ITF-staff vision is landmine-free South-Eastern Europe. Realistic? Definitely, if depending on them alone. |
ITF - International Trust Fund for Deminding and Mine Victims
To Live with Mines
Text Meta Krese
Photographs Arne Hodalič
It’s springtime. Sarajevo is going through it as an occupied city for the first time. Food supplies have dwindled away. Each piece of land in the city is precious. The actors of Top lista nadrealista – known for their surreally realistic humor throughout the former Yugoslavia – have lost the battle with tomato producers and are now forced to find new beds to grow marijuana. They find a suitable cultivable area in the city center, right next to the wall, protecting the Unprofor (United Nations Protection Force) headquarters in the city center. It’s true that the Surrealists have heard rumors about a minefield, planted by the UN soldiers for their protection, but it seemed surreal that anyone would be so dumb to lay mines along the sidewalk of a busy road. And so they went ahead with the project. Fortunately, the police were quick enough to prevent the harvest that could have had serious consequences. This is about what people knew about explosive ordnance at the beginning of the conflict in the former Yugoslavia. But much better informed were all sorts of armies that were laying them at will. “The landmine is a perfect soldier! Never sleeps, never eats, works for free – a true professional killer!” once said Andy Powell, a British officer and advisor on the demining program in the Balkans. When the war had ended the soldiers dispersed, some of them cleared up after themselves or at least left landmine maps, while mines were left in many places. And still killing. As early as in 1995, all sorts of organizations, companies and military formations tackled them. They had spent vast amounts of money but with poor results.
As a signatory to the Ottawa Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention in March 1998, Slovenia joined other states to carry out its obligations, particularly the main one – clearing anti-personnel landmines. At the initiative of the Government, ITF (International Trust Fund for Demining and Mine Victims) was established on 12th March, 1998. The original idea was to operate only in Bosnia and Herzegovina, but activities gradually spread also to other landmine-infested countries in South-Eastern Europe. With time, more and more donors have trusted ITF, which significantly contributed to the efficiency of the work. The Fund won the trust also with its convincing financial transparency, which was much rarer in the 1990’s than nowadays. The Fund is a non-profit organization and the donors are mainly the governments of several countries, the European Union, some private and state-owned enterprises and many individuals. The United States has decided to contribute the amount, equal to all other contributions combined. By 2010 ITF had collected over 250 million USD. Currently, the organization is active also in Cyprus, South Caucasus, central Asia, Latin America and the Middle East. It is strong in all areas, promoted by international mine action standards, such as mine risk education, demining, assistance to landmine victims, their rehabilitation and social reintegration, destruction of stockpiled landmines and the advocacy to ban anti-personnel landmines.
After the conflicts in the territory of former Yugoslavia, there were around 8,000 victims of anti-personnel landmines, including over 1,500 fatalities. The numbers are a little less scary if we are familiar with the fact that they come down each year: during the first years, there were several hundred victims, compared to several dozen in recent years. In 2010, for example, there were 14 cases in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Six people died. The Fund's extra value is its broad scope of activities, including mine risk education, assistance to local mine victims for their everyday life, as well as taking an active part in regional projects on alleviating humanitarian and socio-economic issues and threats, posed by mines and other explosive remnants of war. Although the ultimate goal of ITF is landmine-free South-Eastern Europe, which means people’s everyday life without thinking about landmines, people behind ITF are aware that three million people are directly affected by landmine danger on a daily basis. And landmines are not the end of the story.
Landmines do not choose victims; they do not care who is going to die: a child, an elderly person, a soldier, a wanderer, an animal..., they do not care about the nationality...
The Caucasus lost its romantic touch, bestowed upon us by Russian poets, long time ago. In this part of the world, nearly everyone used to lay mines in the 20th century: on some occasions the Soviet Union soldiers against inside and outside enemies, soon followed by both professional soldiers and volunteers of independent states, usually when they crossed the borders of their territories. Often, they even mined their own homeland in order to prevent the neighbors from visiting. Although open battles were supposed to end in 1994, many landmines are still on their deadly lookout for the enemy. The village of Kirach – Muganto is situated on the border between Georgia and Azerbaijan, ten miles from Armenia. It is nestled among rolling hills, covered by meadows, looking perfect for livestock to graze. Children cannot resist playing on the gentle slopes. They carelessly play catch with stray dogs, slide on the slopes, hide from each other. Just like living in blissful carelessness. But this is not the case. The land is mined. “Very likely,” explains Georgian lieutenant colonel David Asabashvili. Who on Earth could know the exact locations of mine fields in this part of the world! The victims themselves – children, women, men and animals – prove a harsh reality that landmines are there. Without really wanting, they challenge their destiny, and without really knowing, they continue the hazardous game of the brave lieutenant Vulich in Lermontov’s Hero of Our Time, who so strongly believed that our destiny is predetermined that he calmly put a gun on his forehead and pulled the trigger – cheating his destiny by at least a few hours.
Jahorina, the beauty above the capital city of Sarajevo, never touched by the war, is the slogan, used by a Slovene tourist agency, luring guests to spend their holidays in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Anyone who followed the course of warfare in the territory of former Yugoslavia would probably doubt this statement. However, no-one should be blamed for the misleading statement, given the fact that more than 15 years have passed since the end of the war. It is time to forget about it but mines will not allow this. On 30th October, 2011, Slovenia was shocked by the news that Slovenian paragliders found themselves in the middle of a mine field on a steep and remote slope of Jahorina. On of them stepped on a piece of unexploded ordnance and was badly injured. His fellows had been helplessly observing him before a rescue team took him in a helicopter. The fatal location is a mere six miles away from the Olympic ski center. Locals know that this is an area where combat activities took place, which makes it potentially hazardous for this type of sporting activities. But Slovenian paragliders belong to the generation that was attending the first grades of primary school, when war raged in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is difficult for them to believe that they should look for completely different information than that, otherwise required for save gliding. In the long-term, landmine-layers have achieved much more than they could have ever imagined in their sick heads.
No-one knows how much land is planted with landmines and unexploded ordnance. The most what experts dare say is that 83 countries – nearly half of the countries in the World – have problems with these lethal objects. ITF as a reference model has been recognized by donor communities, including the European Commission – as well as the recipients of the aid and the expert public. Namely, ITF has achieved very concrete results: Macedonia, Montenegro, Albania and Serbia are landmine-free, which accomplishes one of its goals. But ITF-staff vision is landmine-free South-Eastern Europe. Realistic? Definitely, if depending on them alone.
To Live with Mines
Text Meta Krese
Photographs Arne Hodalič
It’s springtime. Sarajevo is going through it as an occupied city for the first time. Food supplies have dwindled away. Each piece of land in the city is precious. The actors of Top lista nadrealista – known for their surreally realistic humor throughout the former Yugoslavia – have lost the battle with tomato producers and are now forced to find new beds to grow marijuana. They find a suitable cultivable area in the city center, right next to the wall, protecting the Unprofor (United Nations Protection Force) headquarters in the city center. It’s true that the Surrealists have heard rumors about a minefield, planted by the UN soldiers for their protection, but it seemed surreal that anyone would be so dumb to lay mines along the sidewalk of a busy road. And so they went ahead with the project. Fortunately, the police were quick enough to prevent the harvest that could have had serious consequences. This is about what people knew about explosive ordnance at the beginning of the conflict in the former Yugoslavia. But much better informed were all sorts of armies that were laying them at will. “The landmine is a perfect soldier! Never sleeps, never eats, works for free – a true professional killer!” once said Andy Powell, a British officer and advisor on the demining program in the Balkans. When the war had ended the soldiers dispersed, some of them cleared up after themselves or at least left landmine maps, while mines were left in many places. And still killing. As early as in 1995, all sorts of organizations, companies and military formations tackled them. They had spent vast amounts of money but with poor results.
As a signatory to the Ottawa Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention in March 1998, Slovenia joined other states to carry out its obligations, particularly the main one – clearing anti-personnel landmines. At the initiative of the Government, ITF (International Trust Fund for Demining and Mine Victims) was established on 12th March, 1998. The original idea was to operate only in Bosnia and Herzegovina, but activities gradually spread also to other landmine-infested countries in South-Eastern Europe. With time, more and more donors have trusted ITF, which significantly contributed to the efficiency of the work. The Fund won the trust also with its convincing financial transparency, which was much rarer in the 1990’s than nowadays. The Fund is a non-profit organization and the donors are mainly the governments of several countries, the European Union, some private and state-owned enterprises and many individuals. The United States has decided to contribute the amount, equal to all other contributions combined. By 2010 ITF had collected over 250 million USD. Currently, the organization is active also in Cyprus, South Caucasus, central Asia, Latin America and the Middle East. It is strong in all areas, promoted by international mine action standards, such as mine risk education, demining, assistance to landmine victims, their rehabilitation and social reintegration, destruction of stockpiled landmines and the advocacy to ban anti-personnel landmines.
After the conflicts in the territory of former Yugoslavia, there were around 8,000 victims of anti-personnel landmines, including over 1,500 fatalities. The numbers are a little less scary if we are familiar with the fact that they come down each year: during the first years, there were several hundred victims, compared to several dozen in recent years. In 2010, for example, there were 14 cases in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Six people died. The Fund's extra value is its broad scope of activities, including mine risk education, assistance to local mine victims for their everyday life, as well as taking an active part in regional projects on alleviating humanitarian and socio-economic issues and threats, posed by mines and other explosive remnants of war. Although the ultimate goal of ITF is landmine-free South-Eastern Europe, which means people’s everyday life without thinking about landmines, people behind ITF are aware that three million people are directly affected by landmine danger on a daily basis. And landmines are not the end of the story.
Landmines do not choose victims; they do not care who is going to die: a child, an elderly person, a soldier, a wanderer, an animal..., they do not care about the nationality...
The Caucasus lost its romantic touch, bestowed upon us by Russian poets, long time ago. In this part of the world, nearly everyone used to lay mines in the 20th century: on some occasions the Soviet Union soldiers against inside and outside enemies, soon followed by both professional soldiers and volunteers of independent states, usually when they crossed the borders of their territories. Often, they even mined their own homeland in order to prevent the neighbors from visiting. Although open battles were supposed to end in 1994, many landmines are still on their deadly lookout for the enemy. The village of Kirach – Muganto is situated on the border between Georgia and Azerbaijan, ten miles from Armenia. It is nestled among rolling hills, covered by meadows, looking perfect for livestock to graze. Children cannot resist playing on the gentle slopes. They carelessly play catch with stray dogs, slide on the slopes, hide from each other. Just like living in blissful carelessness. But this is not the case. The land is mined. “Very likely,” explains Georgian lieutenant colonel David Asabashvili. Who on Earth could know the exact locations of mine fields in this part of the world! The victims themselves – children, women, men and animals – prove a harsh reality that landmines are there. Without really wanting, they challenge their destiny, and without really knowing, they continue the hazardous game of the brave lieutenant Vulich in Lermontov’s Hero of Our Time, who so strongly believed that our destiny is predetermined that he calmly put a gun on his forehead and pulled the trigger – cheating his destiny by at least a few hours.
Jahorina, the beauty above the capital city of Sarajevo, never touched by the war, is the slogan, used by a Slovene tourist agency, luring guests to spend their holidays in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Anyone who followed the course of warfare in the territory of former Yugoslavia would probably doubt this statement. However, no-one should be blamed for the misleading statement, given the fact that more than 15 years have passed since the end of the war. It is time to forget about it but mines will not allow this. On 30th October, 2011, Slovenia was shocked by the news that Slovenian paragliders found themselves in the middle of a mine field on a steep and remote slope of Jahorina. On of them stepped on a piece of unexploded ordnance and was badly injured. His fellows had been helplessly observing him before a rescue team took him in a helicopter. The fatal location is a mere six miles away from the Olympic ski center. Locals know that this is an area where combat activities took place, which makes it potentially hazardous for this type of sporting activities. But Slovenian paragliders belong to the generation that was attending the first grades of primary school, when war raged in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is difficult for them to believe that they should look for completely different information than that, otherwise required for save gliding. In the long-term, landmine-layers have achieved much more than they could have ever imagined in their sick heads.
No-one knows how much land is planted with landmines and unexploded ordnance. The most what experts dare say is that 83 countries – nearly half of the countries in the World – have problems with these lethal objects. ITF as a reference model has been recognized by donor communities, including the European Commission – as well as the recipients of the aid and the expert public. Namely, ITF has achieved very concrete results: Macedonia, Montenegro, Albania and Serbia are landmine-free, which accomplishes one of its goals. But ITF-staff vision is landmine-free South-Eastern Europe. Realistic? Definitely, if depending on them alone.
(c) text Meta Krese, photographs Arne Hodalič