A gun is fired in the air during a celebration: New Year, a wedding, a religious festival. But what happens when the bullet falls to the ground?

This New Year, some families around the world will not be celebrating, but remembering their loved ones, lost to bullets that had been fired with no regard for the consequences.

Dr Shawana Atiq, 25 years old, was shopping with her mother in Peshawar (Pakistan) when she was killed by a bullet from a gun that had been fired in the air. She had just completed her medical studies.

In SE Europe, the Middle East and South Asia, campaigns are underway to prevent this senseless and lethal activity.

In South Eastern Europe, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), facilitated by SEESAC, has launched campaigns in Albania, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Macedonia and Serbia & Montenegro. Click here to read the press release.

Macedonia

During the January 2005 New Year celebrations, a young girl celebrating on the main square in Macedonian capital Skopje was hit by a stray bullet and died.

For 2005, UNDP Macedonia's Partnership for Safe and Secure Communities and the Interior Ministry have launched the campaign, "Bullets are not Greeting Cards - Celebrate without Weapons". The campaign is reaching audiences through billboards, TV and radio spots as well as print ads, posters and flyers in Macedonian and Albanian languages. Part of the target audience is Macedonians returning home from abroad, ignorant of the change in Macedonian law prohibiting celebratory gunfire.

Serbia and Montenegro

As in neighbouring countries such as Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Macedonia, celebratory gunfire has been a problem in Serbia for the past 15 years because of the vast number of guns in civilian hands following the war.

After a succession of deaths and injuries, the Balkan Youth Union ran a billboard and flyer campaign in 2004, warning people not to fire guns in the air during celebrations. For the first time in 15 years, there were no accidents in Belgrade over the New Year period.

Pakistan

Father of Shawana Atiq, killed by celebratory gunfire, speaking during the 2005 Global Week of Action Against Small Arms

Celebratory gunfire takes place during Eid celebrations, wedding parties, and, as one Pakistani IANSA member puts it, “any other good news, from the birth of a male child to passing an exam or when the national team wins a sports event, especially cricket.”

After logging 50 casualties in just one day, the Community Appraisal and Motivation Programme (CAMP) launched a campaign against aerial firing in 2003, using the local press to publicise stories of deaths and injuries from aerial firing. As a result, the government launched a larger campaign in 2004.

Lebanon

Three people died and eight were wounded in one night of celebratory gunfire, following the election of a new speaker of parliament. The Permanent Peace Movement has been monitoring accidents from celebratory gunfire and now approaches communities prior to particular events to warn them of the dangers.

Jordan

Celebratory gunfire causes problems when students receive their high school graduation certificates in the summer, and during the wedding season. During 2005, the Regional Human Security Centre helped promote a three-year old agreement between the traditional heads of local communities not to use guns during celebrations.