The HALO Trust is a non-political, non-religious registered British charity and American non-profit organization whose purpose is to remove the debris left behind by war, in particular, landmines and unexploded ordnance (UXO) that might present a danger to civilians. Founded in 1988 it was the first humanitarian demining organisation. HALO has remained faithful to its mission statement, "getting mines out of the ground - now" and has cleared more mines than any other comparable organisation.
HALO operates in ten countries and has nearly 8,000 mine-clearers. HALO's largest operation is in Afghanistan, where the organization operates as an implementing partner of the Mine Action Programme for Afghanistan (MAPA).
The HALO Trust was evicted from Chechnya after Russian intelligence accused HALO staff of spying and aiding Chechen rebels.
The organization was founded by Guy Willoughby, its current chief executive, and the late Colin Campbell Mitchell, a British member of Parliament and former Colonel in the British Army.
By 2010, twenty-two years after founding HALO, they have reached some important milestones that include:
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HALO's largest operation is in Afghanistan. Afghanistan is one of the most mined countries in the world,[1] with HALO estimates of up to 640,000 mines laid in the ground since 1979.[2]
During the several periods of conflict over the last three decades, millions of Afghans fled their homes and made their way to Pakistan and Iran in order to escape the conflict that was ravaging their country. With prolonged periods of conflict in which front lines were shifting and there was extensive mine-laying, residential areas and agricultural land soon became so dangerous that Afghan families felt that the safest place to be was outside Afghanistan. Upwards of 6.2 million Afghans were reported as having left Afghanistan for Pakistan and Iran alone during the various phases of conflict.[2] However, since the fall of the Taliban over five million refugees have returned to their homes.[3]
Since 1988, HALO Afghanistan has destroyed over 692,000 mines (156,000 emplaced mines and 536,000 stockpiled mines), nine million items of large calibre ammunition and 45.4 million bullets.[2]
HALO Afghanistan currently has an operational capacity employing over 3,500 Afghans, and runs a mixture of manual, mechanical, survey, battle area clearance (BAC), explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) and weapon and ammunition disposal (WAD) teams. HALO’s current area of mineclearance operations is in nine provinces of the Northern and Central regions and Herat Province in the west of the country. The organisation operates by building a local capacity: Afghan staff are managed by Afghans, with assistance from 10 expatriate staff.[2] HALO is the largest implementing agency of the Mine Action Programme for Afghanistan (MAPA).[1]
Since 2003 HALO has also had an independent Weapons & Ammunition Disposal (WAD) project, which has worked in every region of Afghanistan. Initially the WAD teams concentrated on the disposal of the significant quantities of degraded and unstable ammunition that were amassed across the country after the formation of the present government. After destroying those stocks HALO’s focus became the location and destruction of ammunition stocks that lie outside of direct government control. Invariably these are small caches of buried munitions that are often degraded and unsuitable to be used for conventional warfare but can still pose a threat to communities. In total the HALO Afghanistan WAD teams have destroyed 23,000 tonnes of ammunition.[2]
Over 63,500 landmine and ERW casualties have been recorded in Cambodia since 1979,[4] and with over 25,000 amputees Cambodia has the highest ratio per capita in the world.[5] Despite a considerable reduction in casualty numbers over recent years, down from 875 in 2005[6] to 269 in 2008,[4] Cambodia’s mine and ERW problem still represents a major impediment to the social and economic development of the country. However, given more than 18 years of humanitarian demining, the landmine threat is now largely concentrated in just 21 north-west border districts.[7]
In these rural districts the landmine problem continues to negatively affect much-needed development by hindering access to:
as well as:
HALO Cambodia currently has over 1,150 national staff working in the provinces of Battambang, Banteay Meanchey, Otdar Meanchey and Pailin. Recruiting, training and then deploying female and male deminers from the mine affected districts means that the landmine contaminated communities remain an integral component in the clearance process. Living and working in these communities, deminers are methodically ridding Cambodia of the landmine menace.[8]
Between 1991 and May 2010, HALO Cambodia cleared over 6,115 hectares (15,100 acres) of landmine contaminated land whilst destroying over 229,000 landmines, 139,200 items of large calibre ammunition and 1.28 million bullets.[8]
Alongside clearance work HALO’s survey teams have continued to systematically clarify the nature and magnitude of landmine contamination in Cambodia. The current focus of HALO’s survey teams is the Baseline Survey of Cambodia, a Cambodian Mine Action and Victim Assistance Authority (CMAA) led process to quantify the true nature of the remaining mine threat in Cambodia.[9]
In May 2009, the Sri Lankan Government declared an end to two decades of armed conflict with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE),[10] who had been seeking a separate homeland, or ‘Eelam’, for Tamils in the north and east of the country.
Landmines were used to varying degrees by both sides at different stages of the conflict.[11] Most mines are of the anti-personnel type, laid to protect bases or defensive areas, and to contain troop movements. Some nuisance mine-laying also took place, which included the use of improvised explosive devices (IEDs), though this was largely a tactic of the LTTE.[12]
The vast majority of mines in Sri Lanka were laid on the Jaffna peninsula during the 1990s. Most of these were laid in dense well-structured belts by government forces, in the course of successive advances. However, mines were also laid on the peninsula by the LTTE; generally in ‘nuisance minefields’, where the mines were laid at random, and scattered over wide areas.[12]
During this same period extensive minefields were also laid by forces garrisoning ‘Elephant Pass’, the strategically important access-way linking the mainland and Kilinochchi District to the Jaffna Peninsula. Permanent Forward Defence Lines (FDLs) were later established by both sides in the lead up to the 2002 cease-fire agreement, and further fortified thereafter. The northern FDL stretches (in depth) down the neck of Jaffna isthmus. Meanwhile on the southern FDL, extensive mine-panels run the breadth of the island - from the Mannar ‘rice-bowl’, across Vavuniya, and on to the coast of Mulaittivu.[12]
Mineclearance in Sri Lanka has been shaped by the war with the LTTE. Soon after demining started in 1999, it was halted by the fighting. When it resumed in 2002, the creation of the National Steering Committee for Mine Action (NSCMA) paved the way for a more concerted demining effort involving international NGOs, such as HALO. The collapse of the (2002) ceasefire agreement in 2006 and escalating fighting severely constrained the pace of humanitarian aid and demining. The LTTE’s defeat in May 2009 led to a new government focus on demining as a prerequisite for resettlement of people displaced by the conflict.[13]
HALO has been working in Sri Lanka since 2002, with 600 demining staff currently in the provinces of Jaffna, Kilinochchi and Mulaittivu. HALO teams conduct manual and mechanical mineclearance alongside survey and explosive ordnance disposal (EOD).[12]
In the northern half of Mozambique all known minefields have been cleared[14] - a total of 552 minefields containing 100,843 mines. HALO concluded 14 years of mineclearance with a survey of every community in order to confirm that there are no known minefields remaining.[15]
In the central and southern half of Mozambique a mines problem still exists. In 2007, HALO was asked to conduct a Baseline Assessment of the situation. This was completed in October 2007.[15] The findings show that there are 541 confirmed minefields[16] remaining and large minefields in the Cahora Bassa Dam area and on the border with Zimbabwe. These minefields are a danger to the lives of ordinary people and inhibit their ability to use the land and develop their livelihoods.[15]
HALO estimates that to reach the same state as the North will require 400 deminers and 4 mechanical assets deployed over five to six years, with a concurrent, final phase of community survey to confirm all known threats have been removed.[15] The Government of Mozambique’s National Mine Action Plan aims to clear all known minefields before the Mine Ban Treaty deadline of March 2014.[17] A capacity within the Mozambican armed forces has been developed to deal with any residual problem thereafter, likely to be limited to ammunition finds.[15]
Even though Angola is a huge country with wide open spaces, the vast majority of mines were laid in or around towns and villages that are now growing economically and in population.
Thus there are concentrations of mines where there are concentrations of people. HALO has conducted extensive survey of the five provinces in which it operates and there are 778 confirmed minefields remaining that require clearance.
HALO has worked in Angola since 1994. Since 2002, it has expanded its programme to over 800 Angolan staff with ten full time expatriates in support. Considerable progress is being made; even so, HALO estimates that there is still in the region of 10 years’ work to rid Angola of all landmines.
To tackle the threat from AT mines on roads, HALO developed the Road Threat Reduction (RTR) system. RTR is a two part process: first, systematic sweeps are made with a large detector to find metal cased AT mines; this is followed by heavy detonation trailers designed to detonate any minimum metal mine still capable of operating. It is not classed as clearance but provides a significant reduction in threat at a practical speed where there are thousands of kilometres of suspect road.
HALO also fields Weapons & Ammunition Disposal teams working in support of the Angolan Army, Navy, Air Force and Police to destroy the considerable stocks of weapons and ammunition that were amassed during the Civil War. By June 2010 HALO’s teams had destroyed more than 1,000 tonnes of ammunition and over 70,000 Small Arms and Light Weapons. The majority of ammunition destroyed is made up of aircraft bombs but includes guided missiles and cluster bomb sub-munitions.[18]
Somaliland is an unrecognised de facto independent state located in northwest Somalia in the Horn of Africa.[19]
Minelaying occurred during the 1964 and 1977-78 border wars with Ethiopia, when minefields were laid predominantly along the Ethiopian border. This border and important access routes were heavily mined.[20] Between 1981 and 1991, the Somali National Movement (SNM), a rebel army of mostly northern Somali followers, waged an armed insurrection against the regime of Mohamed Said Barre, which saw use of landmines against the civilian population, their homes and farmlands. The civil war caused large scale population displacement from the principal cities of Hargeisa, Burco and Berbera. The conflict, which had its roots in grievances over power sharing and the state control of economic assets, was portrayed by the government as a struggle between SNM nationalists (defending Somaliland’s independence) and government federalists advocating a relationship with Somalia.[21]
The most recent use of landmines in Somaliland took place between 1994 and 1995,[20] when militias opposed to the regime of Somaliland President Mohamed Ibrahim Egal and loyalist forces fought fierce battles south and east of Hargeisa (the capital).[21] In 2009 the House of Representatives approved legislation banning the use of anti-personnel (AP) mines.[22]
HALO’s programme in Somaliland was established in 1999 and employs over 500 national staff members. HALO operates 41 manual clearance sections, two battle area clearance (BAC) sections, four survey / explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) teams, six mechanical teams and one mines risk education (MRE) team. These are deployed across Somaliland from Awdal region in the north-west to the regions of Sool and Sanaag in the east.[21]
Besides conducting clearance for humanitarian benefits, HALO is also addressing the problem of explosive security. A pilot Weapons and Ammunition Disposal (WAD) programme has been established to work with both the police and the military on this issue.[21]
Since the start of 2007, HALO has been conducting a re-assessment to identify the remaining mines problem and the assets required to clear the remaining mine and Explosive Remnants of War (ERW) problem in a reasonable time frame.[21]
HALO fields demining staff both in Georgia proper and in the breakaway region of Abkhazia.
Both Georgian and Abkhaz forces used landmines extensively during the war of 1992-93. Mines were also used in varying degrees between the May 1994 cease-fire and the late 1990s by individuals and small groups, primarily in relation to criminal activities.[23]
The landmines laid during the war were concentrated along well defined lines of conflict and key terrain. The Gumista and Inguri rivers, the Gali Canal, the Kodori Valley and the main road were all heavily mined areas of tactical importance. Post conflict these mined areas prevented the safe resumption of agricultural activities and light industry. They also denied safe transit to the population of Abkhazia. HALO conducted extensive landmine survey of Abkhazia between 1997 and 2000 in cooperation with both sides from the conflict.[24]
Since the short conflict in Georgia in August 2008 The HALO Trust has had access to the upper Kodori region and has been clearing the remaining minefields there and also ammunition stores which were struck in bombing raids, throwing out explosive items over wide areas.[24]
Since 1999 HALO has completed the clearance of 306 minefields and battle areas, covering an area of over 14.5 square kilometres. By the middle of 2010 9,526 mines and 46,751 items of explosive ordnance had been found and destroyed. HALO currently operates with 150 national staff and expects to complete the clearance of the 30 remaining minefields in Abkhazia, which are mostly in upper Kodori, by the end of March 2011.[24]
The bulk of the remaining mines problem in Georgia comes from minefields laid around former Soviet military bases. There are several areas outside Georgia’s conflict zones where mines and unexploded ordnance continue to cause casualties. These include former military bases, remote border areas and training areas which have returned to civilian use.[25]
In 2009, a national survey of minefields remaining in Georgia found a total of 15 contaminated sites. Of these 15, ten are identified as having a direct humanitarian impact. HALO is currently working on two of these minefields and hope to clear a further seven by the end of 2011.[24]
The clearance of minefields surrounding former Soviet military installations in Georgia is often complicated by significant quantities of waste and rubble. HALO have mechanical mineclearance techniques to clear such sites using adapted civil engineering plant such as armoured excavators and front-loading shovels.[24]
HALO currently employs over 100 staff in Georgia, the majority of whom come from within the mine-affected communities.[24]
Shida Kartli region (August 2008 conflict)
South Ossetian, Georgian and Russian forces clashed over a four day period around the South Ossetian “capital” city of Tskhinvali in August 2008. Although minefields were not laid during this conflict, the heavy use of aircraft bombing, artillery and mortars resulted in widespread Unexploded Ordnance (UXO) and cluster munition contamination of this area. This contamination spread with the retreat of Georgian forces from Tskhinvali to the town of Gori in Georgia.[24]
Concurrent to the conflict centred on South Ossetia, targets were bombed elsewhere in Georgia, including the Upper Kodori region of Abkhazia. This contamination was largely limited to individual airbomb and rocket strikes, which were quickly addressed and cleared. The majority of remaining contamination was limited to a 20 km wide corridor between Gori and Tskhinvali where the high-intensity conflict took place. The main threat to these villages was from the extensive use of cluster munitions, but rocket strikes and abandoned ammunition also posed a threat.[24] The American NGO CNFA partnered with HALO to target the delivery of agricultural assistance to the farmers of Shida Kartli; this resulted in the region’s largest ever apple and wheat harvests.[26]
HALO completed work in this region in December 2009 having cleared 3,402 hectares of land across 22 communities. 1,706 cluster munitions and 2,031 other items of ordnance were located and destroyed.[24]
Nagorno Karabakh Republic is a disputed region in the South Caucasus. Internationally recognised as part of Azerbaijan, it is populated primarily by ethnic Armenians, who declared independence in 1988. This resulted in Nagorno-Karabakh War from 1992 to 1994, which ended with a ceasefire that left Nagorno Karabakh and seven surrounding Azerbaijani provinces controlled by Armenians.[27]
Landmines were used extensively during the 1992-1994 war, as were large amounts of cluster munitions and other explosive ordnance. Since the war ended in 1994, 328 people have been killed or maimed by landmines and unexploded ordnance (UXO). The minefields and cluster bomb contamination continue to inhibit development and infrastructure projects, leaving farmers unable to cultivate large areas of fertile agricultural land.[28]
Since 2000 HALO has provided the only large-scale mine clearance capacity in Nagorno Karabakh and over the last 10 years HALO has cleared over 236 square kilometres of contaminated land and returned it to previously impacted communities. By mid-2010, HALO had found and destroyed in Nagorno Karabakh over 10,000 landmines, 10,000 cluster munitions and 45,000 other explosive items.[28]
HALO conducts both manual and mechanical clearance of minefields in Nagorno Karabakh. Cluster bomb strikes are cleared by HALO’s Battle Area Clearance (BAC) teams whilst other items of UXO are cleared by HALO’s Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) teams. HALO’s programme is complemented by Survey and Mines Risk Education teams. 210 local staff are currently employed, managed by a single expatriate, while all other senior management positions are filled by locally recruited and trained staff.[29]
HALO has reported as cleared nearly 80% of minefields and about 70% of the area contaminated by cluster munitions in Nagorno Karabakh. The NGO believes the remaining areas can be cleared within the next five years but this timeframe depends on the continued availability of donor funds, which are on a downward slump. Without funding, HALO warns, the removal of all the minefields and cluster munitions will take longer, leaving impoverished rural communities blighted by mines and cluster munitions for years to come.[28]
In July 2011 Azerbaijani government blacklisted and banned the organization from Azerbaijan in protest for its mine clearing operation in disputed territory of Nagorno Karabakh. Mine removal equipment that was headed to Afghanistan was impounded and sent to Georgia. [30][31]
Mine laying, predominately by the army of the Former Republic of Yugoslavia but also by the Kosovo Liberation Army, took place primarily in 1999. In addition to the many items of UXO resulting from the conflict, the NATO bombing campaign in 1999 left unexploded cluster munitions in many locations across Kosovo.[32]
Between 1999 and 2001 the UN managed a large clearance programme in Kosovo[33] (under Security Council resolution 1244 giving the UN governance of the province[34]).The implementing agencies for clearance, of which HALO was the largest with over 400 staff, destroyed over 50,000 landmines, cluster munitions and other items of UXO.[35] Since 2002 a further 20,500 landmines, cluster munitions and other items of UXO have been cleared by the various implementing agencies.
HALO maintained demining and battle area clearance operations between 2004 and 2006 and conducted a country-wide Community Liaison Survey in 2006 and 2007. This survey identified 126 areas still in need of clearance, above and beyond the 46 areas recorded in the national database. HALO commenced a third phase of clearance operations in May 2008.[32]
In total since 1999, HALO has cleared over 38 hectares of mine contaminated land and 1,263 hectares of cluster munition contaminated land. In the process, HALO has destroyed 4,330 mines and 5,377 cluster submunitions and other explosive items.[32]
Minefields remain in rural areas in which impoverished communities rely on agriculture and woodcutting as their primary sources of income. Although human casualties due to mines are rare, many mine impacted communities have lost cattle and horses over the last few years, and there is the constant danger that expanding socio economic footprints around such communities will result in individual land users attempting to access some of the many hectares of land currently denied to them by landmines. The picturesque and unspoilt mountainous landscapes in Kosovo’s south and west have the potential for a lucrative tourist industry but these are the areas most affected my mines. Many hectares of the hills in western Kosovo were recently burnt as firefighters were unable to access the area due to landmines detonating.[32]
Cluster munitions remain in many areas, both on the surface and buried. Since late 2007 three cluster munition accidents have caused the deaths of two people and severe injuries to a further five adults and children. Similarly to the threat posed by mines, cluster munitions impact most on the financially marginalised elements of society who rely on scrap collecting, woodcutting and cultivation for their livelihood. They also have an impact upon infrastructure projects and HALO has found and destroyed cluster munitions of road widening projects. Occasionally clearance cannot keep up with development and at least one cluster munition was uncovered by road construction teams in 2010.[32]
The World Bank's Kosovo Poverty Assessment 2007[36] highlights that 45 percent of Kosovo's population is classified as “poor”, living on less than €1.42 per day, with a further 18 percent considered to be vulnerable to poverty. 15% of the population is extremely poor, which is defined as “individuals who have difficulty meeting their basic nutritional needs” Many of the poorest communities live in proximity to the remaining minefields and cluster strikes, with two thirds of Kosovo’s poor living in rural areas.
HALO currently has three teams and a total of 43 demining staff accredited and deployed clearing minefields and cluster munition strikes.[32]
For the last 40 years left wing Non States Armed Groups (NSAGs) have been in conflict with the Government.[37] This has resulted in the use of locally manufactured mines and Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs), collectively described as “mines”. The Colombian military laid defensive mines around 34 of their bases whilst NSAGs and paramilitary organisations have used them in all aspects of their operations. The Colombian military have now completed clearance of 31 of the minefields they laid but an estimated 10,000 suspected NSAG minefields remain. These have largely been the reason why Colombia now has similar landmine casualties to Afghanistan.[38]
Colombia ranks second, behind Sudan, with the largest number of internally displaced people (IDPs)[39] and these populations are now experiencing high casualty and accident rates as they return to their areas of former residence.[38]
Mines laid by NSAGs are found on routes used by government forces and around schools and houses used as bases in rural areas. The Colombian government formally invited HALO Trust in June 2009 to implement a large scale civilian clearance program which is currently in the survey and assessment stages.[38]
HALO is the first civilian organisation to have a formal agreement and registration with the Colombian government and is currently surveying prioritised mined areas in preparation for humanitarian clearance operations.[38]
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