Visit of Austrian Federal Chancellor Fayman and Slovenian Prime Minister Pahor to ITF

In the scope of working visit of Austrian Federal Chancellor Werner Faymann to Slovenian Prime Minister Borut Pahor, the premises of the International Trust Fund for Demining and Mine Victims Assistance (ITF) in Ig, Slovenia were visited. Director of ITF, Mr. Goran Ga?nik, presented ITF activities in the field of mine action in the region of SE Europe, South Caucasus and Central Asia. During the visit, the Chancellor Faymann and Prime Minister Pahor were also acquainted with the permanent exhibition on humanitarian demining and a collection of mines and other unexploded ordnance (UXO), which is used for training purposes within the framework of the Training Center for Protection and Disaster Relief at the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Slovenia. With the establishment of the ITF in 1998, Slovenia significantly contributed to post-conflict development in the region of South East Europe and still demonstrates that it is, in partnership with other donor countries, a factor of security and stability in this area. Slovenia supports ITF activities by regular annual donations, totalling more than 5.8 million EUR, and confirms its commitment to the humanitarian and development efforts in post-conflict areas. This is also one of the reasons for the support of Republic of Austria to ITF humanitarian and development programs. Republic of Austria supports ITF since 2000 and has contributed more than 4 million EUR to ITF demining programs in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. In addition, Austrian contribution to ITF enabled the rehabilitation of 22 mine victims from Bosnia and Herzegovina. Since 2007, Austria also supports the implementation of ITF mine victims assistance program in Azerbaijan.
A long-time support of Austria, which is one of the most devoted donors to ITF, confirms that ITF's good results strengthened the confidence of its donors and contributed to becoming a reference institution in the field of mine action. ITF implements its activities in the region of South East Europe, Caucasus and Central Asia. Upon the wishes of its donors, ITF also implemented projects in Jordan, Colombia and Lebanon. At the initiative of the President of the Republic of Slovenia, Dr Danilo Türk, ITF in 2009 started with the implementation of rehabilitation treatment of children, victims of the recent conflict in the Gaza Strip.
During the 11 years of ITF presence in the region of South East Europe, ITF with the widespread community of its donors raised more than 255 million EUR, cleared more than 99 million square meters of land, rehabilitated more than 1000 mine victims and enabled mine risk education to more than 100.000 children in the region of South East Europe.
The new ITF strategy for 2009-2013, which widens the area of ITF activities, was also presented during the visit. ITF recognizes that as the impact from landmines and UXO in SE Europe becomes less severe, there is a growing need to address other post-conflict challenges (such as Security Sector Reform (SSR) and Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration (DDR) programs), and to combat violence and terrorism from the illicit ownership and use of small arms and light weapons (SALW). Such challenges pose a potential threat to human security just as serious as the danger from landmines and UXO. Despite the new strategic objectives, the primary task for the ITF, is still raising and managing funds from public and private donors and their implementation in mine action programs.