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More than 50,000 people in Laos have been killed or injured by explosive remnants of war leftover from the Vietnam War. Millions of bombs still litter the land. Handicap International mine risk education teams educate children and adults about how to protect themselves and reduce the risk of accidents from these deadly weapons.

Mohammed is a community volunteer. Every day, he rides his motorbike through local neighbourhoods of Timbuktu, Mali, in search of children with disabilities who do not attend school. 

On the 27th January 2019, a violent tornado heavily damaged several areas of Havana, Cuba’s capital city. Together with the 3 Cuban Disabled People’s Organizations, Humanity & Inclusion launched a series of actions to understand needs and help the population affected by the disaster. 

In emergency situations, many vulnerable people do not get sufficient assistance, either because of their disability or their isolation. On World Humanitarian Day, Handicap International is reaffirming its commitment to make humanitarian aid accessible to every person affected by a crisis.

Ahmed has lived in Azraq camp in Jordan with his wife and three children since April 2016. Caught in an air strike in Syria, Ahmed was hit in the head by shrapnel and sustained a traumatic brain injury. Over the last few days, Handicap International has been helping him learn to walk again. The UK Department for International Development (DFID) provides Handicap International with support as part of its response to the Syrian crisis in Jordan.

Huda, 5, was injured in an air strike in Syria, in June 2016.  Despite a traumatic brain injury and a fractured leg, the little girl is making a swift recovery thanks to the support of Handicap International. The organisation’s assistance to Syrian refugees in Jordan is supported by the European Commission Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection service (ECHO).

Ayman and Mohammad are two Syrian refugees who didn’t know each other before they arrived in Lebanon. Chance brought them together in Syria’s neighbouring country, where the two men are now rebuilding their lives with each other’s help and support from Handicap International. The organisation has provided them with rehabilitation care and given them equipment to make their daily lives easier. Ayman now volunteers for Handicap International to advance the rights of refugees with disabilities and injuries. 

Ibrahim lost his leg after being injured by shrapnel in Syria. Now walking again with a prosthesis, he has learnt to do his own repairs. But he is still facing barriers to being employed and his family struggles to get by.

Salam is 14 years old. Two years ago, her neighbourhood in Syria came under heavy bombardment. And her life was never the same again. Seeing her enter the courtyard of her family’s house today, it’s difficult to imagine the incredible path taken by this young woman, who has been supported by Handicap International since her arrival in Jordan. The organisation’s assistance to Syrian refugees in Jordan is supported by the European Commission Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection service (ECHO).

Eleven people were killed and a dozen injured on Monday 15th August in an airstrike on a hospital supported by Médecins sans Frontières in the city of Abs, in Hajja province, northern Yemen. The attack came two days after an airstrike on a school in the province of Sadaa, which claimed the lives of ten children. Handicap International and five other humanitarian organisations are demanding an independent investigation into the attacks. Handicap International has strongly condemned these airstrikes and is calling on all parties to the conflict to respect international humanitarian law.

Handicap International has been working in Libya since 2011. Due to the country’s extreme political and security instability the organisation relocated its operation to Tunis in July 2014. Anne Barthès who has been leading the mission since February 2016, reflects on the programmes currently being run by Handicap International, five years after the fall of Muammar Gaddafi’s regime.

Although cluster bombs have been banned under the Convention on Cluster Munitions since 2010, they have been used on multiple occasions over the last two years in conflicts in Syria, Yemen, Ukraine, Libya and Sudan. Cluster bombs have killed and maimed thousands of civilians, who are overwhelmingly the main victims. But what exactly are these weapons?

Every year, more than 250,000 people around the world sustain spinal cord injuries, mainly as a result of road accidents, falls or acts of violence. These injuries often cause disabilities. For more than 25 years, Handicap International, in conjunction with the International Spinal Cord Society (ISCOS), has provided quality rehabilitation care to injured people, and supported their inclusion in society and work. The 5th September is International Spinal Cord Injury Day.

President Barack Obama has doubled U.S. funding to clear the bombs and munitions polluting Laos. The funding increases to $90m over three years and will be spent on weapons clearance in a country that suffered near incessant U.S. bombing campaigns in the 1960s and 1970s

In preparation for the Paralympic Games, which recently kicked off in Rio, Brazil, Handicap International presented racing wheelchairs to disabled Congolese athletes taking part in the competition. The Chair of the National Paralympic Committee of the Democratic Republic of Congo congratulated the organisation on its initiative at the presentation ceremony.