Tokyo, 11 October, /AJMEDIA/
A group of foreign NGOs and civil society activists initiated a petition entitled “Global Advocacy for a Mine-Free World”, AJMEDIA reports.
The petition was posted on the Jotform international platform as part of the international campaign “World for Peace in the Caucasus”.
The petition stated that mines and unexploded ordnance (UXO) pose a serious threat to the health, life, and safety of the civilian population. Mines continue to kill and maim people even after the end of conflicts. They lead to lifelong disabilities and become a tragedy for families.
The campaign appealed to the UN and stated that 60 million people in the world are still at risk of mines. Azerbaijan, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Angola, Cambodia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Vietnam are among the countries in the world most polluted by landmines.
Azerbaijan is also given a large place in the appeal, along with other countries. Azerbaijan is seriously suffering from the mine problem. Over the past 30 years, more than 3,400 people have been victims of mines in Azerbaijan, 90 percent of them civilians.
The authors of the campaign said that Armenia has mined the territories of Azerbaijan, and this process has not stopped even after the second Karabakh war in 2020. The situation was brought under control only after Azerbaijan established a border checkpoint on the Lachin road.
The initiators of the petition are horrified that post latest anti-terrorist measures carried out on September 19–20 this year, Azerbaijan discovered the fact that the remnants of the Armenian armed forces have placed at least half a million additional mines along the 480-kilometer line. They demand that Armenia immediately hand over maps of newly installed mines to Azerbaijan.
Foreign NGOs and civil society activists welcome the initiative of President Ilham Aliyev to declare the goal “A world without mines” as the 18th UN Sustainable Development Goal and urge the UN to increase attention to the global mine problem.
In addition, the appeal has already caused a serious resonance: more than 100 civil society activists from about 10 countries said they had joined the global campaign to mobilize efforts against mines and supported a global solution to this problem.
