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Halo Trust unveils hard-hitting Yemen campaign

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The charity said just £3 can help them destroy a landmine in the war-torn country.

A hard-hitting campaign aims to raise awareness of the dire situation faced by millions of children in Yemen.

Anti-landmine charity the Halo Trust has teamed up with popular website Mumsnet to launch the campaign, which features images of war-damaged toys and the text “The must have toy this Christmas”.

The charity hopes to shock parents across the UK into making a donation which will go towards clearing mines in the war-torn country.

Described by the United Nations as “the single biggest humanitarian crisis in the world right now”, unexploded ordnance and landmines deployed in Yemen’s civil war kill and maim innocent children every day.

The Halo Trust said a donation of just £3 – less than the price of many stocking fillers – can help them destroy a landmine before it injures or kills another child.

Nicholas Torbert, Halo’s head of region for Yemen, said: “Every visit to Yemen brings home the tragedy being visited on the people there. Landmines, improvised explosive devices and unexploded bombs are killing and maiming thousands of innocent civilians and stopping them from accessing emergency food supplies.

“Children are especially at risk - from walking through mined areas or because their natural curiosity means they pick up dangerous objects with lethal consequences.”

The charity is currently training Yemeni locals to safely destroy explosives and start the long process of clearing the country from the deadly debris of war. A recent report has estimated that around 3,000 civilians are killed by mines every year in the country.

Paul McCann, Halo’s head of communications, added: “We’re working with Mumsnet so they can help bring home to people in the UK the realities of life in one of the world’s war zones.

“By focusing on a war-damaged toy we hope to cut through some of the Christmas clutter and make a distant war more real for people.”