U.S. Senator fighting to save HALO demining program in Karabakh

PanARMENIAN.Net - American Senator Bob Menendez is fighting to save the the demining program in Nagorno Karabakh (Artsakh), and you can support the online campaign by urgeing your Senators to join the letter․

In a video published on Twitter, Kristen Stevens, Government Affairs Manager at the HALO Trust, says that right now Senator Menendez is fighting in Congress to ensure funding for the organization’s life-saving demining program in Nagorno Karabakh .

“This week he is urging his colleagues to sign on to a letter to support this program which would allow HALO to continue removing landmines and explosive hazards from the region, ensuring that HALO can continue to play a vital role in the region,” Stevens said.

“Whether HALO is addressing the threat of landmines or Covid-19, we are doing everything to keep communities safe, and during this difficult time.

In Karabakh, residents have suffered from the threat of landmines for almost 30 years. There have been nearly 400 civilian casualties from explosive hazards since the end of the conflict in 1994, and about a quarter of these victims have been children.

But USAID funding has expired for this life-saving program, and no future funding is planned, unless the Congress decides otherwise.