I am delighted to publish this guest post: Children and Young People - Making a Difference in Libya by Tom Shelton, Communications Officer, Handicap International UK. In the post he shows how children in Libya are contributing to keeping themselves and other members of their families and communities safe.
On 21st March 2011, 13-year-old Mohamed was playing football with his friends when he noticed something glinting in the sun. Curious, he picked up the strange object and started to play with it, throwing it against a wall. It exploded violently, firing out shards of metal that struck the child’s face and hand, cutting off several fingers.
Unknowingly, Mohamed had picked up a submunition left behind after the fighting last year in his hometown of Zlitan, a coastal town in Libya about 30 miles from Misrata.
Six months after the fall of the Gaddafi regime, explosive remnants of war continue to injure and kill civilians in Libya. Children and adolescents are bearing the brunt of these accidents due to a lack of awareness of the dangers that these weapons pose. In the region, 80% of recorded casualties are under 23 years old.
Handicap International is committed to preventing such accidents by clearing areas contaminated by weapons and educating local communities about the risks. Since launching our activities in Libya in March 2011, our teams have made around 50,000 people aware of the risks. Since October 2011, we have also destroyed more than 3,500 explosive remnants of war.
Initially, our education activities targeted people who had been displaced by the fighting. These groups were particularly at risk as many were returning home to areas which had been heavily shelled and mined, unaware of the hidden danger.
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