You have helped MAG achieve so much

This year, we are deeply honored to be awarded the 2025 Conrad N. Hilton Humanitarian Prize, the largest annual humanitarian award in the world to nonprofits. This Prize recognizes decades of lifesaving work, innovation in demining and relentless advocacy. However, this recognition is not ours alone. It is for everyone affected by conflict, our courageous colleagues, and, of course, every supporter who has believed in our mission. Without you, our work is not possible.

This Prize is not a time to rest, but an encouragement to redouble our efforts. We must safeguard the progress made under the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty, a cornerstone of our work. As a founding member of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, we played a critical role in its creation. Before the treaty, landmines killed or maimed around 25,000 people annually. By 2012, that number had fallen by nearly 95% to below 1,000. This achievement proves what international cooperation can accomplish.

Yet today, we face a worrying shift. Some countries are withdrawing from the treaty and casualties are rising. In 2023, at least 5,700 people were killed or injured by landmines. With global conflict at its highest since the Second World War, the progress we have made together is fragile and must be defended.

Thank you for being an active part of every life saved and every piece of land cleared. Your continued support is more important than ever. Together, we can safeguard the promise of the treaty and strive for a mine-free future.

Darren Cormack

MAG Chief Executive

In 1991, as Cambodia was emerging from a decades-long civil war, the scale of landmine casualties in Cambodia led the country’s Prince Sihanouk to call for a ban on landmines. The risk posed by landmines was taking an unacceptable toll on communities already shattered by conflict and genocide.

MAG began its operations in Cambodia in October 1992 and kickstarted the campaign to rid the world of landmines which culminated in the signing of the Mine Ban Treaty in Ottawa, Canada, five years later. 

But the success story of the Mine Ban Treaty – and the progress made in Cambodia – must not blind us to the challenges that remain. Cambodia remains one of the most heavily contaminated countries in the world. Since 1979, over 64,000 people in Cambodia have been killed or injured by the widespread contamination of explosive items throughout the country.

Deminer Thuk, who joined MAG when she was just 18, is one of our many staff who have lived experience of living with the threat of landmines.

In 2019, the village of Phnum Rai, in western Cambodia, was home to only a small number of people. Many families who owned land in the village were afraid to use it, so they lived elsewhere. Some homes were in the middle of minefields. Every day was filled with worry and danger.

Today, things are very different.

When we first met Nang in 2019, the land around her home was still a minefield. She lived in constant fear for her children’s safety, telling us, “I don’t know where the landmines are. I have always been afraid for my four children.”

Today, the difference is profound. Her home is built on land cleared by MAG, allowing her to safely farm and support her family. The true measure of this transformation, Nang says, is the freedom it has given her children.

Nang’s story is a powerful reminder of how mine clearance transforms lives, offering a future of safety and opportunity.

Syria’s path to recovery is littered with landmines

In Syria, families cannot farm their fields. Children cannot play safely. Communities cannot rebuild with confidence. Instead, Syrians returning home after the war are stepping into danger, and too often, into hospital wards.

Unlike countries that joined the Mine Ban Treaty, combatants in Syria used landmines extensively throughout the war. Now, as families return, they find themselves confronted with these lethal devices. 

Hamed Osman, Head of Nursing at Idlib Surgical Specialized Hospital expresses concern for the future: “we worry it will get worse as more people return and as more people try to reclaim their land, begin farming or try to rebuild their homes.”

Among those now under his care are Hamza, 37, and his friend Muhanna, 28. They share a small hospital room, both living with life-changing injuries after landmine accidents just days apart. 

Hamza’s story is harrowing. He was on a family picnic when he drove over a landmine. His two children and father were also in the car. His brother and his mother had exited the vehicle minutes earlier to get some fresh air. 

“There was a huge flash and bang; the car was thrown 30 feet into the air. My children were in the back seat and my father was beside me. We said prayers together because we thought we would die,” he recalls. 

“My brother managed to get my father and children out through the panoramic roof window and I felt a surge of relief when I realized the children were OK. Then I realized my legs were badly injured but my brother managed to pull me out. I have these terrible injuries but what is most important is that my little ones, Ahmad and Salim, are safe. They are only four and seven years old and we thank God for this.”

In the next bed lies Muhanna, 28. He and four co-workers were plowing a wheat field when his tractor detonated a landmine. One co worker, just yards away, died two days later from head wounds caused by fragmentation from the landmine. 

“We were about to rest for lunch, and someone suggested do two more lines. I was third in the row, and I drove over a landmine. When it exploded, I didn’t realize what it was or that I’d been injured. Then I realized I was badly hurt. My friend in front of me was also terribly injured; he had shrapnel in his head. He died two days later.” 

Muhanna knew the risks of farming the land, but explains the problem many Syrians face: 

Stories like Hamza and Muhanna’s are exactly why the Mine Ban Treaty matters and why we cannot let it unravel. The use of these indiscriminate weapons is completely unjustifiable. 

Right now, MAG has nine clearance teams working across Syria. Together, they have already made vast areas of land safe, but the scale of contamination is staggering. It is estimated that, in Northeast Syria alone 38 million sqm of land remain contaminated with landmines and explosive weapons of war, a painful testament to what happens in the absence of the Mine Ban Treaty. Clearing it will take years of painstaking work. 

Your generosity makes MAG’s work possible. Every day you help MAG’s teams save lives and return land to families who desperately need it. Together, we can ensure people aren’t condemned to live with this deadly legacy,  and that the world stays strong in continuing the ban on landmines.