Reference :
V-P-BA-E-00095
Date :
06/11/2013
Caption :
Doboj province, Hodzici village. Portrait of a man who was injured in a mine explosion.
Confidentiality level :
public
Publication restrictions :
publication without restrictions
Description :
Doboj province is highly infested with landmines and Hodzici village is surrounded by landmines fields. In 2011, this man stepped on a landmine while he was collecting fruit trees with his wife. His wife was killed in the accident and he suffered sustained injuries on his legs and back. This man also lost one of his brothers who was killed in a landmine accident in 2006. Another brother was victim of two landmines accidents in 1997 leaving him amputee.
Anti-personnel mines continue to pose an ever constant threat / 02-12-2013 Statement
Opening address by Christine Beerli, vice-president of the ICRC, 13th meeting of States Parties to the Convention on the Prohibition of Anti-Personnel Mines, Geneva, 2-5 December 2013.
A few weeks ago, the ICRC met with Salih Hasanamidzic, a 56-year-old man living in the remote village of Doboj Istok in northern Bosnia and Herzegovina. Salih survived an anti-personnel mine blast in 2011 while collecting fruit in the forest surrounding the village but he was badly injured and left permanently disabled. His wife was killed in the same incident. One of Salih’s brothers lost a leg in a similar incident in 1997, while collecting firewood. Another brother was killed in 2006, also by an anti-personnel mine in similar circumstances. Before the war, Salih’s family used to herd goats outside the village but they can no longer do so due to the presence of landmines. As a consequence, their economic situation has drastically deteriorated.
Salih’s situation is particularly devastating, but he and his family are not the only mine victims in Doboj Istok. The entire community is affected, as the surrounding forest on which they rely for firewood is still littered with anti-personnel mines.
The armed conflict in Bosnia and Herzegovina ended 18 years ago; yet as in many other countries, anti-personnel mines continue to destroy peoples' lives and pose an ever constant threat. Many mine-affected States, including Bosnia and Herzegovina, have made progress towards meeting their mine clearance and victim assistance commitments under the Convention, and many in this room have supported them in these tasks. But progress continues to be hampered, including by insufficient resources. In some cases, resources have even decreased over the years. Sustained mobilization and effective use of resources – human, financial and technical – remain critical if land essential for the economic survival of communities is to finally be cleared of anti-personnel mines, and if the Convention is to fulfil its promises to mine victims.
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Original material :
digital
Resolution :
5460x3605
Orientation :
landscape
Colour/B&W :
colour
