The German Federal Foreign Office (GFFO) supports the HALO Trust in Syria with a €5M grant to boost vital mine clearance efforts as tens of thousands of people return to reclaim their pre-war homes and cultivate their fields.
Civilians displaced in their millions by the conflict are now returning to ruined villages, towns and cities that became the battlefields of the civil war. They are strewn with dangerous explosive devices ranging from grenades, improvised bombs and mortars to rockets, trip wires, and missiles. An average of six children are now being killed by explosives every week.
“We are extremely grateful to the GFFO for their generous €5M donation to fund our humanitarian demining operations in Syria. Just as millions of Syrians return, this will help avoid deaths and injuries. The funding enables us to respond to the ever-growing needs of the population by training more disposal experts and growing our operations in the Northwest and South of Syria – where casualties and contamination has been highest."
“Making Syria’s land safe is the first step in the process of rebuilding the country from the ground up and building a sustainable peace. It can help Syria become a thriving middle-income country again.”
Ina Heusgen, Director for Humanitarian Assistance at the German Federal Foreign Office highlighted that “it is high time to strengthen humanitarian demining efforts in Syria in order to protect the returning population from the lurking threat of landmines and unexploded ordnance. We appreciate the swift ramp-up capabilities of the HALO Trust.”
With more than 640 accidents and fatalities reported since the fall of the Assad regime in December 2024, the number of people injured and killed is expected to spike over the spring and summer months, particularly in the northwest of the country, where landmine contamination is the densest along some 200km of former frontlines.
HALO’s small team of around forty demining experts has recently reported a tenfold increase in emergency calls from civilians finding live explosive devices, which the organisation then safely destroys in situ.
As well as clearing bombs and dangerous debris, HALO also has the expertise to train the huge number of construction workers needed to safely identify unexploded ordnance as they work in and around crumbling buildings.
This will make rebuilding Syria quicker and safer and vastly reduce the number of fatalities and accidents.
Notes to Editors:
· The HALO Trust has been operational in Syria since 2016 in what were opposition-controlled areas of the country.
· HALO operates in over 30 countries worldwide and has a staff of over 10,000 local people working to help their communities recover from conflict.
· Globally Germany is the second-largest donor to HALO’s work in countries that also include Cambodia and Ukraine.
