Campaign Launched to Curb Fatal Party Gunfire

A new social media campaign has been launched for the Western Balkans called "Don't Ruin the Party" - to raise awareness about the dangers of the custom of celebratory shooting ahead of the New Year's celebrations.

The practice, which was abandoned during the Cold War and communist period, experienced a dramatic comeback in the Nineties.

The campaign is bring run by the South Eastern and Eastern Europe Clearinghouse for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons, SEESAC.

"Celebratory shooting takes place across the Western Balkans to different extents and for a variety of reasons ... such as weddings, after the birth of a child, religious festivals and holidays, New Year's Eve, and after sporting event victories", SEESAC wrote on its website.

"Every year, across the region, many end up wounded or dead as a result of [this] celebratory gunfire," the organisation warned, highlighting the dangers of this practice, which it said has "more links with the widespread availability of guns in the region, rather than as a result of tradition".

A survey conducted by SEESAC showed the practice remains widespread all over the Western Balkans.

In Kosovo, celebratory gunfire is "common, particularly at weddings and New Year festivities", according to the organization, like in Albania, where this tradition reappeared between 1997 and 1998 in connection with "increased levels of insecurity, conflicts and weapons proliferation".

Every year, these shootings result in a large number of wounded. In December 2014, a 35-year-old woman from Shkoder, Albania, was shot in the head by a stray bullet while she was in the kitchen with her son.

In August 2014, four persons were wounded over 24 hours during family celebrations in Kosovo.