Matthew Richard Walsh, program manager of DanChurchAid (DCA), said that his organization is supporting the workshop to help spread education about the dangers of landmines and other explosive remnants of war. After the course, participants will share the information with the general public, hopefully preventing further harm by such devices that still lay hidden in the jungles and fields posing a serious threat to villagers.

For over six decades the Burma Army and Karen armed groups were fighting until soon after reforms when ceasefires were signed between most of the groups in Karen State.

Other participating organizations are UNICEF Myanmar and Karen State Social Welfare Department.

Karen State Social Welfare Department’s deputy director U Zaw Min explained that it’s vital to cooperate with organisations and the public to address the massive problem of landmines in the state.

Over 60 participants from state-level Land Records Department, Forestry Department, Progress of Border Areas and National Races Department and Ministry of Education are attending the four-day training course which ends tomorrow.

A Landmine Awareness Education Committee in Myawaddy District was established on 28 July. The committee supports earlier initiatives by the Myanmar Landmine Awareness Education Committee that was established in 2012 to raise attention to the danger of landmines in conflict areas in cooperation with UNICEF.

Reporting by Nan Thwar Phaung for KIC News
Translated by Thida Linn
Edited by BNI staff