Landmines Are Still Out There
(3BL Media/Justmeans) - Shortly before her death in 1997, Princess Diana was filmed visiting minefields that were being cleared by the Halo Trust in Angola, drawing the world's attention to this deadly situation. Now, 16 years later this August, Prince Harry has put the media spotlight on this issue after he travelled to Angola to see the Halo Trust’s mine clearance work.
The charity is the oldest organisation of its kind; the Prince is patron of its 25th Anniversary Appeal. As a soldier, the Prince Harry is seeing many people of his generation losing limbs and this has seemed to affect him. In a statement issued by Kensington Palace, Prince Harry said he was keen to support the charity in any way he could.
The commitment shown by Prince Harry plays an important role in helping not only to raise awareness of Halo's work, but also to demonstrate that the issue of landmines has not gone away. Angola's civil war has left an estimated 500,000 dead and destroyed much of the country. Though there have been huge efforts since the war ended there in 2002 to clear the explosives, the country remains one of the most heavily mined in the world. The Halo Trust has destroyed more than 21,300 anti-personnel and anti-tank mines in Angola but thousands of residents have still been killed or maimed.
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Sangeeta Haindl is a staff writer for Justmeans on Social Enterprise. When not writing for Justmeans, Sangeeta wears her other hat as a PR professional. Over the years, she has worked with high-profile organizations within the public, not-for-profit and corporate sectors; and won awards from her industry. She now runs her own UK consultancy: Serendipity PR & Media.
