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Thanks to funding from the UK Government to the Global Mine Action Programme (GMAP), over one million people now have access to safe land.

The UK Government today announced a £36 million extension to GMAP 2, its support for global landmine clearance in the world's most mine-affected countries. The project started in July 2018 and has now made safe land that benefits one million people. These are men, women and children in impoverished communities in ten countries who had been living with the threat of landmines for decades.

Under the project, 83 million squares metres of land has been made safe and another 57 million square metres surveyed and removed from national databases – making the land safe to use. In addition over half a million children and other community members living among mines and unexploded debris have received mine risk education classes thanks to the UK funding.

HALO is part of an alliance of global landmine clearance organisation awarded a total of £46 million for landmine clearance in 2018. An additional £36 million has been released this financial year as an extension of the project. The consortium includes: The UK’s HALO Trust and Mines Advisory Group (MAG), as well as Norwegian People’s Aid and the Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining.

Across Angola, Cambodia, Somalia and Somaliland, Zimbabwe, Myanmar, South Sudan, Laos, Lebanon and Vietnam, we are working together to clear landmines and explosives so that families can live in safety and rebuild their lives.

Ty and her husband Vet have faced many struggles together. Cambodia’s civil war decimated the economy in Battambang province where they have lived since 1997 and for many years they had to work as casual labourers. On a 'good' day they might earn between $1 and $2.50. Often they brought home nothing at all. When their twin daughters were born in 1999, Ty decided to try and clear the vegetation on a nearby plot of land to supplement their income by growing rice. But they could still only cultivate two bags (200kg) per year.

As their family grew, Ty and Vet managed to acquire a small strip of land to grow more rice but when they began to clear the vegetation, they discovered landmines hidden beneath the undergrowth.

In desperation, Ty sold many of the family's belongings to pay a private deminer to clear a small portion of their land but it wasn’t until HALO’s demining teams arrived that the family’s worries were finally over.

With a secure income, Ty hopes to support her daughter, Sokha, to finish her studies which were disrupted when the family ran out of money to pay the children's school fees. Thanks to the support of the UK Government, Ty and hundreds of thousands of families across the world are building a brighter future for themselves and future generations.