War wounded in Afghanistan: Restoring dignity amid the darkness

19 September 2016

The head of the ICRC's physical rehabilitation programme in Afghanistan, Alberto Cairo, visited Australia recently to launch the Canberra display of From Seeds of Destruction to Fields of Recovery – a striking photographic exhibition by Getty Images capturing the ongoing humantiarian toll exacted by explosive remnants of war (ERW).

In conflict and post conflict-affected communities around the world, mines, unexploded cluster munitions and other ERW continue to kill and maim. The Afghanistan war has raged for decades, the ICRC's physical rehabilitation centres (known in Afghanistan as orthpaedic centres) register up to 700 new patients each year, many of them victims of unexploded weapons that remain littered across the country.

In this video, Mr Cairo discusses the severe physical and mental impacts experienced by victims of mine explosions, and explains how the ICRC's clinics help survivors restore mobility, dignity, and most importantly, hope.

From Seeds of Destruction to Fields of Recovery, featuring photographs from six mine-affected countries including Afghanistan, Bosnia and Herzegonia, Iraq, Laos, Nicaragua and Mozambique, is on display at the Hedley Bull Centre, Australian National University in Canberra, until Thursday 28 September 2016.