The Tirana Workshop on Achieving a Mine-Free South Eastern Europe, 7 to 9 October 2009
By Stephanie Castanie on Saturday, October 10 2009, 18:00 - News - Permalink
The Ban Advocates from Albania and Serbia attended this regional conference, held ahead of the Second Review Conference of the Mine Ban Treaty. The purpose of the Tirana Workshop was to take stock of the progress made and the challenges lying in South Eastern Europe, in view of reaching the Convention’s goals.
One of the highlights of the workshop was the announcement by Petrit Karabina, the Deputy Minister of Defence of the Republic of Albania, that Albania would be in a position to declare completion of implementation of its obligations under Article 5 of the Convention at the Cartagena Summit.
Moreover, a visit was organized to the Kukes Regional Hospital, as well as to the AMAE (Albanian Mine Action Executive) Regional Office, where a presentation of the activities to assist the victims, has been done by Jonuz Kola, representing the local organization ALB-AID. Those visits enabled us to evaluate the efficient work done in Albania on victim assistance. Indeed, the Albanian example is a good one where 238 victims of mines/ERW have received an efficient assistance, thanks to the cooperation between several governmental and non-governmental bodies. Most Albanian survivors interviewed into the context of the report Voices from the Ground were satisfied by the assistance provided to them.
During the conference, the Victim Assistance Parallel Programme was also an opportunity to learn more about the experiences of other Balkan countries to assist victims of mines/ERW.
On 8 October, a launch of the report Voices from the Ground was organized. Around 30 persons (delegates, members of NGOs, Ban Advocates and other survivors from the region) attended the launch. Speeches were made by Mr. Arben Braha, representative of the Albanian Ministry of Defense, Mr. Veri Dogjani, representative of the Albanian Mine Action Executive (AMAE), Mr. Jonuz Kola, Executive Director of ALB-AID and Mr. Loren Persi, HIB Researcher based in Serbia. The media coverage was ensured thanks to the presence of one national TV and three national journalists. The launch of the report was broadcasted on national television (TVSH) and an article was also published in the Tirana Observer.
During the conference, the Ban Advocates from Serbia had the opportunity to meet with Albanian survivors. On 8 October, after the first day of the conference, we have been invited to enjoy the Albanian local food and music from the Balkans. We all particularly enjoyed the Albanian’s hospitality.
On 9 October, after the end of the conference, the Ban Advocates from Serbia were invited to a meeting into the Serbian’s Embassy in Tirana. This meeting enabled them to promote the signature of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, by providing to the representant of the Serbian’s Embassy in Tirana necessary information about the Oslo process. They also spoke about the humanitarian need for Serbia to sign this Treaty as being an affected country where a lot of work is still needed to be done, especially on victim assistance, comparing to other neighboring countries.
On 10 October, the group of the Ban Advocates worked together on the next steps to work on national and regional advocacy projects, in order to continue the promotion of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, with a priority defined, as being Serbia’s signature to the CCM, and most importantly on its implementation into the ground. Moreover, an exchange of experience on victim assistance’s projects between different countries where the Ban Advocates are based into the Balkan’s region could be interesting, by sharing the good practices demonstrated in Albania, for instance.
Comments