For the first time in the South Caucasus, the International Mine Awareness Day is celebrated as part of a region-wide information campaign.

The campaign will be held in the South Caucasus countries. Within the campaign, materials will be distributed in Armenian, Azerbaijani, Georgian, Russian and English languages. The monitoring shows that in 30 years, mines have killed or injured over 5 thousand people, including children.

The advisor to the office of the EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus and the crisis in Georgia, Karin Marmsoler, said at the event organized by the Center for Humanitarian Demining and Expertise in Yerevan, that this day is also important for Nagorno-Karabakh.

Anti-personnel mines pose a great danger to residents of border areas, the EU representative said.

The EU is promoting humanitarian demining in 26 countries.

“The countries of the South Caucasus are not yet members of the Ottawa Treaty, but I hope that the situation will change,” she noted.

The UN Resident Coordinator in Armenia, Shombi Sharp, in his turn, noted that in addition to human casualties, mines pose a danger to the development of the country as mines damage the environment and slow down economic development.