SEESAC Reminds Us to Celebrate Safely This Holiday Season and #BetheStaroftheParty

As the region enters the holiday season, SEESAC reminds us all of the inherent dangers of misuse of firearms and explosives, and encourage us to celebrate safely. Celebratory shooting and misuse of weapons and pyrotechnics continues to be a common occurrence in the Western Balkans, as we can see in one of SEESAC’s recent In-Focus monitors.   

To drive the message home, SEESAC is bringing back Joe. You might remember him as our anti-hero from the Celebrate with Your Heart - #DontBeLikeJoe campaign, whose faith we followed last year at this time. We witnessed him make a series of bad choices – buying pyrotechnics for his much younger brother, shooting at a New Year’s Eve party and from a balcony in his neighborhood, all of which led him and those close to him down an unwanted path – in jail or hurt. 

This year Joe has turned a new leaf. Trumpet in hand, he decided to #BetheStaroftheParty by brining music and joy to his family, friends, and neighbors. We hope Joe will serve as an example of how to celebrate safely.

We will be promoting his new ways through social media platforms (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube) and through Google Ads network. We encourage you too to spread his message.

In addition to posts centered on Joe, we will be sharing information about incidents and facts that speak to how relevant the problem of firearms and pyrotechnics misuse remains in the region.

Look for us on social media using the hashtags #CelebrateWithYourHeart and #BeTheStaroftheParty   

To amply the message across the region, the campaign is also being implemented in three of the local languages and more information can be found on its landing pages in BCMS, ALBANIAN, MACEDONIAN.

This year, the campaign is being implemented within the framework of the regional project Support for Enhancing the Fight Against the Illegal Possession, Misuse and Trafficking of Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW) in the Western Balkans funded by the European Union through the Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance (IPA II).