YEREVAN, March 15. /ARKA/. The HALO Trust international humanitarian organization has raised $1 million for continuation of mine clearance in Nagorno Karabakh, the organization reported on Wednesday.



To rid the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic's territory of all mines $8 million is needed. The territory is believed to be fully cleared by 2020.



The organization says in its press release that the Nagorno-Karabakh people are more likely to be the victims of landmines than almost any other country in the world. The area is heavily fortified with mines as a result of the Karabakh-Azerbaijan conflict of 1994.



According to the news release, one-third of landmine victims in Artsakh are children.



Since 2000, The HALO Trust has cleared over 445 minefields, 11,200 landmines, and over 25,300 cluster munitions and other unexploded ordnance in Karabakh. To remove the remaining 70 civilian minefields,



The HALO Trust has secured an anonymous donor who has committed $4M in match funding - specifically for Karabakh.



Nina and Raffi Festekjian, as the campaign co-chairs, will help raise awareness and support in the United States and the worldwide Armenian Diaspora. They will host a fundraising event debuting Scout Tufenkjian's latest photography from Karabakh which will then travel to New York and Los Angeles for exclusive showings and events as part of its North American tour. --0---





14:01 15.03.2017