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The work of the ITF is of the utmost importance and we need to continue and strengthen international humanitarian action.

The President of the Republic of Slovenia, Nataša Pirc Musar, this morning hosted a reception to mark the 25th anniversary of the humanitarian organisation ITF – Enhancing Human Security. In her keynote address, the President of the Republic emphasised the important role and strong reputation of the Slovenian institution in the international community and reiterated her call for the continuation and strengthening of humanitarian action. The newly appointed Chairman of the ITF Board of Advisors, South Korean Ambassador HAM Sang wook, and ITF’s Director Tomaž Lovrenčič also addressed the guests at the reception. The celebration coincided with the International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action.

Presidential Palace, 4 Apr 2023

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The President of the Republic of Slovenia, Nataša Pirc Musar, this morning hosted a reception to mark the 25th anniversary of the humanitarian organisation ITF – Enhancing Human Security. Established in March 1998 on the initiative of the Slovenian government to help Bosnia and Herzegovina implement the peace agreement and clear its mine-infested territory, the ITF has since expanded its activities to a number of other countries and regions. It now operates in 19 countries around the world with humanitarian human security programmes that go beyond mine action.

In her speech, the President of the Republic paid tribute to current and former ITF staff for their work during the first twenty-five years of the institution’s existence and wished them continued success, safety and effectiveness in assisting victims of conflict. She also thanked the donors for their generosity and long-term financial and political support, without which the ITF would not have been so successful, and expressed the hope that the donor community of countries would continue to grow in the future and that new countries would join it.

"From its first steps, way back in 1998, to the present day, the ITF has become one of the most internationally recognised Slovenian institutions," said President Pirc Musar, adding that the ITF "is the beacon of Slovenian foreign policy with which we seek to bring elements of peace and reconciliation to places where the silence has been drowned out by weapons and explosions, to provide adequate care for people, and with which we seek to restore a modicum of human security and dignity to the victims of conflicts around the world".

As she emphasised, wars have left huge numbers of people in extremely difficult and even unbearable conditions, and the ITF helps them – it helps clear and destroy the explosive remnants of war, provide medical care for the victims of conflict and train them for new professions, including beekeeping, and it also helps to build the capacity of countries that have virtually collapsed. "You help all victims to regain the fundamental thing that makes us human: human dignity," she said.

In her keynote speech marking the 25th anniversary of the ITF and the International Day of Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action, President Pirc Musar took the opportunity to reiterate her call for humanitarian action to be continued and strengthened.

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"I urge you, as an international community founded on the principle of the universality of human rights, to continue your noble work to help the victims of conflicts, especially children and women; to help consolidate the universal framework of the values of human rights and human dignity, which is at the heart of our foreign policy and has my active support; to work intensively to put into practice an international system that guarantees fundamental rights for all, without exception or excuse, such as the right to peace, protection from the horrors of war, protection from the explosive remnants of war, fundamental human dignity and human security," she said.

The newly appointed Chairman of the ITF Board of Advisors, South Korean Ambassador HAM Sang wook, and the ITF’s Director Tomaž Lovrenčič also addressed the guests at the reception.

Recording of the reception and the addresses of President Pirc Musar, Ambassador HAM and ITF Director Tomaž Lovrenčič