Kosovo

In 1999, NATO air forces conducted over 10,000 combat bombing missions over Yugoslavia, releasing cluster bombs on Yugoslav military and infrastructure targets in Kosovo. Each cluster bomb strike contained hundreds of bomblets. With a failure rate estimated at twenty per cent, tens of thousands of these unexploded items littered the ground or became buried in fields, gardens and school yards.

In addition, in response to an insurgency campaign, Yugoslavia's military had planted minefields on Kosovo's borders to prevent infiltration by fighters for the Kosovar Liberation Army from Albania and Montenegro.

HALO started working in Kosovo immediately after the withdrawal of Yugoslav troops in 1999, where hundreds of thousands of returning refugees were finding their farmland, homes and gardens contaminated by explosives.

By 2025 HALO Kosovo had cleared cluster bombs and landmines from an area the size of over 2,800 football pitches, so parents like Basri no longer fear for their children’s future.

We employ over 100 local men and women, creating opportunities in a country where there are few formal jobs prospects, particularly for women. After discovering childcare issues were a barrier to local women applying for work with HALO, we introduced childcare stipends in 2018.

In the summer of 2024, HALO celebrated 25 years of making the people of Kosovo safe.

Only months after the war ended, Zejnepe’s husband, Afet, lost his leg in an explosion when he stood on a landmine while collecting firewood. In the years that followed, the family lived in fear of further accidents but, in November 2017, much to Zejnepe’s relief, our deminers finished clearing the minefield where the accident happened.