UK politicians have been invited to find landmines in the shadow of the Palace of Westminster to highlight International Day for Mine Awareness.

The event is being sponsored by Matthew who is treasurer of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Explosive Weapons of Conflict including Landmines.  Matthew said: "Millions of people live with the fear of landmines. And every day people die or suffer horrific injuries from abandoned weapons left behind after conflict."

To promote the International Day of Mine Awareness, the Speaker of the House of Commons The Rt Hon John Bercow MP has kindly given permission for a consortium of mine-action groups to demonstrate humanitarian mine clearance techniques to MPs, Peers and parliamentary staff on Speaker’s Green on 3rd and 4th April.

The organisations taking part are Action on Armed Violence, Find a Better Way, G4S Ordnance Management – who are giving the physical demonstration – MAG International and the United Nations Mine Action Service.

Matthew continued: “I have been fortunate to see at first hand the incredible work the participating organisations do in countries like Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and Cambodia – and I know how much they do in other parts of the world such as the Western Sahara and South Sudan.

“I hope Parliamentarians in both Houses will take a few moments of their time to visit the event on Speaker’s Green, and lend their long term support for the cause of a world free of the risk of harm from explosive weapons.”

John Bercow said, “I cannot think of a better way to bring home to our Parliamentary colleagues the seriousness of this issue than to demonstrate it in the shadow of our chamber.

“When thousands of people in many countries cannot let their children out of the front door without worrying about their safety, we can only imagine what it would be like to step out of the safety of Chamber of the House of Commons into that sort of environment.”

Attending the event will be landmine survivor and humanitarian photographer Giles Duley, whose documentary on Channel 4 ‘Walking wounded – back to the front line’ showed the shocking impact of explosive weapons on the civilians in Afghanistan.