War-Damaged Toys Feature in Hard-Hitting Campaign for HALO Trust

The HALO Trust, the anti-landmine charity supported by Princess Diana and now championed by her son Prince Harry, is launching a stark online Christmas campaign today (17th December) to remind parents of the dire reality facing children in Yemen this festive season.

The campaign has been devised pro bono by Grey London.

As parents spend the final days in the build up to Christmas looking for presents for their children, the hard-hitting online poster campaign ‘Toys Made in Yemen’, aims to make them realise that kids in Yemen are not so fortunate. The poster features an image of a war-damaged toy along with the text: 'The must have toy this Christmas’. 

The HALO Trust has teamed up with Mumsnet, which will feature the campaign on its site, along with a series of articles about the dire reality that Yemeni kids face every day, not just at Christmas.

Described by the United Nations as 'the single biggest humanitarian crisis in the world right now', unexploded rockets and landmines deployed in Yemen’s civil war kill and maim innocent children every day. Yet just £3 – less than the price of many stocking fillers – can help The HALO Trust destroy one of these death traps. 

The HALO Trust’s mission is to clear mines and help rebuild countries after conflicts - the people of Yemen are suffering after almost five years of bloody civil war. By partnering with Mumsnet, the aim of the campaign is to shock parents across the UK into making a donation by highlighting the appalling plight of children living in war-torn Yemen, so the charity can clear as many landmines as possible.

The HALO Trust, which works in 25 countries around the world, is a recipient of a UK Aid Match grant, meaning donations will be doubled by the UK Government from now up until December 22nd, 2019. It is also registered as part of AmazonSmile. 

Paul McCann, head of communications at The HALO Trust, said: “HALO works in some of the world’s most dangerous places removing landmines and making people safe from the unexploded debris of war. There are few places where this work is needed more urgently than Yemen. We’re working with Mumsnet so they can help bring home to people in the UK the realities of life in one of the world’s war zones. By focusing on a war-damaged toy we hope to cut through some of the Christmas clutter and make a distant war more real for people.’ 

Nicholas Torbert, HALO’s head of region for Yemen, said: “Every visit to Yemen brings home the tragedy being visited on the people there. Landmines, improvised explosive devices and unexploded bombs are killing and maiming thousands of innocent civilians and stopping them from accessing emergency food supplies. Children are especially at risk - from walking through mined areas or because their natural curiosity means they pick up dangerous objects with lethal consequences. HALO is on the ground removing enormous quantities of explosive debris from their own communities. The job is huge and support from the public means we can clear more landmines, more quickly." 

Mumsnet founder, Justine Roberts, commented: “We are pleased to be working with The HALO Trust to bring more attention to the plight of children in war zones this Christmas.”

Mark Fairbanks, creative director at Grey London, said: “Christmas is all about children. But whilst the UK will spend £5 billion on toys, all the children of Yemen want is a life free from the ravages of war. We are proud to support The HALO Trust and the incredible work this organisation does in removing landmines and live bomb debris that is a daily part of those children’s lives.”