European deminers
Hundreds of kmq of Croatian territory, now of the EU, still have to be cleared of mines and UXO. The deminers associations protested for contract renewals during the July 1st celebrations
36 hours after the celebrations for the EU membership of Croatia on July 1st, the central Ban Josip Jelaฤiฤ square in Zagreb hosted the protests of the workers of the 27 Croatian demining companies belonging to the HUP โ Hrvatska udruge poslodavaca (Croatian Employers Association).
The workers were on strike since weeks, asking for the renewal of their contract. The contract, expired in December 2012, was finally renewed on July 8th with the expected raises of salary.
The government also signed an agreement aimed at raising more funds for this sector and to include in the contract 5 more companies not belonging to the HUP.
The demining operations in Croatia are coordinated by the
CROMAC โ Croatian Mine Action Center.
According to data published in the National Demining Strategy 2009-2019, the total surface presenting a โmine riskโ in Croatia at the end of 2008 summed 954,5 kmq.
