Prince Harry during a reception at Kensington Palace on April 4
BY MARAL FIRKATIAN WOZNIAK
To what extent do fancy parties with celebrity saturated guest lists affect positive social change?
In the case of landmines and the impact they have, namely in developing countries, it turns out the answer is quite a lot.
On Tuesday, April 4th, International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action, the HALO Trust and Mines Advisory Group (MAG) hosted Landmine Free 2025 at Kensington Palace at which Prince Harry spoke, pledging to take action to remove all landmines from the world by the year 2025.
ONEArmenia’s current campaign, Remove Landmines from Artsakh, which aims to clear 31,839m² of land near the village of Meghvadzor in Artsakh Republic (Nagorno Karabakh Republic) works in partnership with the HALO Trust. ONEArmenia’s founder, Patrick Sarkissian and Country Director Anahit Galstyan, attended Landmine Free 2025 to learn more about the global initiative to rid the world of these dangerous and destructive remnants of war.
Pledging to remove landmines is all well and good but unless that pledge is then backed up with the action it promises to take, it isn’t much use to anyone.
Which is why following Prince Harry’s poignant and uplifting speech in which he recalled his late mother’s own personal campaign to raise awareness of the danger of landmines, Priti Patel, newly appointed Secretary of State for International Development, announced that the UK government would increase its spending on landmine clearance to £100 million over three years.
It is through a combination of awareness and action that the lofty goal of removing all landmines from the world by 2025 will be accomplished. Princess Diana set the stage when she took a stroll through a minefield in Angola 20 years ago. As Prince Harry noted in his address, she felt obliged to take action.
“My mother had been shocked and appalled by the impact that landmines were having on incredibly vulnerable people and on children in particular…She refused to accept that these destructive weapons should be left where they were, just because they were perceived as too expensive and difficult to remove.â€
