To raise awareness about the proliferation of anti

Handicap International announced on Friday, April 3, to franceinfo that it will “fragment” its Nobel Peace Prize, obtained in 1997, to protest the current trend in many countries to restart the production of anti-personnel mines. These pieces of the prize will then be sent to several leaders around the world.

Winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1997 for its fight against anti-personnel mines, the organization aims to raise awareness of the decision of several countries, especially European ones, to turn back to producing these mines. Five countries bordering Russia, Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Finland, and Poland have recently decided to withdraw from the Ottawa Treaty that prohibits them, sometimes indicating readiness to resume production.

“The anti-personnel mine will not slow down a Russian invasion and we know very well that it poses a very strong risk to the populations of these countries,” said Anne Héry, advocacy director at Handicap International, to franceinfo. “There is a collective compass, at the level of European countries, that we must not lose. It is true that there is a very strong retreat, and we must stand firm.”

“We have questioned a lot to come up with a somewhat shocking idea to try to raise awareness,” she continues. “We initially thought about returning the Nobel Prize, but we realized that it was not a good idea. The idea of fragmenting it seemed much more symbolic to us as international norms are crumbling, and bit by bit, they are falling.”