Conference on l – -mines – war victims held in Arbil

ARBIL / IraqiNews.com: The northern Iraqi Kurdistan city of Arbil has witnessed on Tuesday the opening of the National Conference to help victims of land-mines and wars, under patronage of Iraq’s Ministry of Environment and attendance of Kurdistan Ministries, land-mines offices in Kurdistan and the UNDP.   “The Conference aims to legislate a special law to help victims of land-mines and war remnants, as well as people of special needs,” the Iraqi Environment Ministry’s Legal Advisor, Qassim Mahmoud Bahram told IraqiNews.com news agency.    He also said that “the Conference also aims at rising vigilance for commitment to the Agreement for Banning land-mines and the special Agreement for people of special needs and its relationship with helping the victims of land-mine explosions.”   On her part, the Australian Ambassador to Baghdad, L. Sax, said in a speech at the opening of the Conference that Australia possesses a broad experience in elimination of mines and had helped in allocating 2 million dollars to raise a large number of mines in Iraq, in order to minimize their victims.   The Official in charge of land-mines elimination in Kurdistan, Saraj Barzani, has said that “offering help for land-mines victims in Iraq is not the duty of the Health Ministry alone, because there are other issues related to the needs of the victims, including psychological, social and economic issues that need support of everybody.”   The Director of the Iraqi Organization for the Elimination of Mines had stated for IraqiNews.com lst April that Iraq still suffered from the presence of 25 million land-mines on its territories, including 10 millions in northern Iraq, apart from 3 million tons of unexploded rockets and bombs.   He said that about 9,995 housing compounds and villages are threatened, including 4,446 areas, where unexploded bombs exist and 3,385 dangerous areas, including war remnants.   The official also said that about 1,200 kms of lands are planted with land-mines along the Iraq-Iran borders, along with 12,782 battle fields or military positions, comprising different war material, adding that “efforts are continuing to eliminate those land-mines.   SKH (TF)  299