ITF 15th Anniversary Celebration
The ITF`s 15th Anniversary was marked with a Celebration held at Congress Center Brdo, where particiants were addressed by the President of the Republic of Slovenia, Mr. Borut Pahor and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Slovenia, Mr. Karl Erjavec. All present agreed that the ITF, which was established in 1998 by the Republic of Slovenia with initial mission to assist Bosnia and Herzegovina in implementation of Dayton agreement and support humanitarian demining, has over the years become the most important humanitarian project of the Republic of Slovenia abroad, and expressed their desire and support for successful continuation of ITF efforts in the future.
ITF has been continuously developing and enhancing its mission thus expanding the scope of activities and geographic area of their implementation to reflect the changing human security environment; needs of beneficiary countries and priorities of donor community. With successful implementation of mine action projects as well as other activities reducing treats to human security, ITF has been recognized as reputable and reference organization by international community and a reliable partner for many donors worldwide. Since its establishment
In 15 years, ITF has implemented over 2.880 projects and cleared over 125,6 million square metres of mine-polluted areas, where 73.308 mines and UXO were found and destroyed. In addition to that, almost 105.000 shells were collected and removed (totaling almost 2.300 tons) in Gerdec, Albania after ammunition depot explosion and over 131.000 shells (totaling 91 tons) after ammunition depot explosion in Chelopechene, Bulgaria. As part of projects aimed to dispose surplus and obsolete ammunition stored after conflicts, a number of trainings in this area were conducted.
The ITF has also contributed to the physical rehabilitation of 1.102 mine/UXO victims from South East Europe, 100 children from Gaza Strip and 25 victims from Libya. Over 82 thousand children and adults living in mine-affected communities directly participated in programmes to raise awareness of the mine/UXO problem, and over 200.000 family members received it indirectly. The ITF has educated over 880 experts in the field of humanitarian demining, rehabilitation, mine action management, conventional weapons destruciton and physical security and stockpile management and supported activities of national mine action centres in affected countries.
Since the establishment ITF has raised over 375 million USD of donations, out of which almost 180 million USD were spent for different projects in Bosnia and Herzegovina. ITF would like to express sincere gratitude to 399 public and private donors, including 30 governments, the European Union, UNDP, UNMAS and numerous local authorities, non-government and humanitarian organisations, businesses and individuals who have entrusted funds to the and made its work possible.
ITF would like to again express our deepest gratitude for having faith in our joint effort for all those years.
Thank you!