The HALO Trust has concluded its humanitarian landmine clearance work in Kosovo, the demining charity announced on 23 September 2026. Its teams first arrived in June 1999, alongside the NATO-led force at the end of the conflict, and spent the next 27 years making land safe again.
Key facts
Mines and other explosive remnants of war caused 585 casualties in Kosovo between 1999 and 2024, about three quarters of them in 1999 and 2000.
A minefield at Pristina Airport was cleared for redevelopment. The airport now handles almost five million passengers a year.
Clearance made way for the E851 motorway and for tourist trails near Peja, close to the Albanian border, which now draw hundreds of thousands of visitors a year.
"Mine clearance was not the outcome of Kosovo's recovery. It was one of the prerequisites that made recovery possible," said Atholl Stewart, HALO's final programme manager in Kosovo.
Why it matters
Clearing mines turns no-go land back into places where people can farm, travel, build and explore. Kosovo shows that this slow, careful work can reach an end, and that recovery can follow.
Worth noting
Some residual contamination may still be found. Responsibility for it now passes to Kosovo's national mine action authorities, and landmines remain a daily danger in many other countries.