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Russian Federation / Chechnya: Children's poster exhibition on mines opens in Grozny

07-04-2003 News Release 03/36

The poster exhibition Children against Mines opened in the capital of Chechnya, Grozny, on 2 April. On display are 80 posters designed by some of more than 1,000 schoolchildren from Grozny, Gudermes, Shali and Urus-Martan who took part in a competition organized by the ICRC in cooperation with the local youth centre and the local branch of the Chechen Ministry of Culture.

In designing the posters, the children showed their understanding of the dangers posed by mines and how to avoid mine accidents. The two best posters will be printed by the ICRC and distributed in schools throughout the Chechen republic. The exhibition itself will be donated to the Ministry of Education and shown in schools around the republic.

The competition was part of a mine-awareness programme that has been carried out by the ICRC in the Northern Caucasus since 2000. As part of the programme, puppet shows and comic books have been produced, as well as an animated film using a popular local character named Cheerdig. At present, ICRC mine-awareness activities in the region are targeting children in the Chechen republic and mine-infested communities in neighbouring Dagestan, where a new puppet show was put on last month.

 Further information: Annick Bouvier, ICRC Geneva, tel.: + 41 22 730 24 58