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Handicap International gathered 70,000 new signatures on Saturday during the 13th Shoe Pyramids, which were organised in 40 towns and cities across France, with the support of more than 3,500 voluntary workers. This brings to 400,000 the number of people who, in France and the rest of Europe, are calling for a total ban on cluster bombs.
Building on this unprecedented wave of support, Handicap International will continue pressing parliamentary representatives, ministers, and heads of state for change, and intensify its campaign within international bodies to ensure that cluster bombs, of which 98% of victims are civilians, are no longer manufactured or used.
© JJ.Bernard / Handicap International
San José, Costa Rica - Handicap International considers the regional conference on cluster munitions held in Costa Rica on 4-5 September as a positive step towards an international ban on cluster munitions. This local conference aimed to inform the Latin American countries of the cluster munition issue and to conduce them to join the on going process for a Ban Treaty. This conference attended by 18 Latin American countries (Cuba is the only country that did not accept the invitation) strengthened the Oslo process, now supported by 17 States in this region and 80 worldwide.
State representatives, NGOs and civil society organizations will gather in Lima , Peru from 23 to 25 May to discuss an international ban on cluster munitions. This will be the second meeting in a process which began in Oslo in February 2007 which aims to achieve an international Treaty to Ban Cluster Munitions. The Lima meeting represents a vital step in the process as members will review the proposed text of the treaty for the first time.
Following the outcome of the Oslo negotiations it is likely that the exact definition of cluster munitions will play an important role in ongoing negotiations. The wording of the Oslo declaration states that the process aims to ban cluster munitions that "cause unacceptable harm to civilians". Such wording has been judged ambiguous and insufficient by some NGOs and state parties. Advocates argue that such wording is potentially too restrictive and could likely allow some categories of cluster munitions to remain outside the ban.
Handicap International and many other NGOs present at Lima believe the definition issue to be high on the list of priorities. These groups will push for the definition to be debated and will propose necessary modifications and amendments to the draft of the treaty.
Another aim of the conference is for participating states will re-affirm their engagement in the process. Following the Oslo conference 46 states have signed the declaration affirming their commitment to a process towards an international ban. Some of the states however, such as France , have publicly stated their desire that these negotiations be integrated into more "classic" negotiation forums, notably the CCW.
It is also hoped that more countries will join onto the Oslo process. Several states that were not present in Oslo have been invited to the Lima conference, many of which are directly affected by cluster munitions.
This conference will be an important moment for the stakeholders engaged in the fight against cluster munitions. Civil society stakeholders in Lima will ensure that states do not backtrack and instead reaffirm their commitment to this crucial and monumental process.
The vast majority of cluster bomb casualties occur while victims are carrying out their daily livelihood activities, according to Circle of Impact: The Fatal Footprint of Cluster Munitions on People and Communities. This groundbreaking report being launched today by Handicap International documents the lasting economic and social harm these weapons bring upon communities, adversely impacting families for decades to come.
It is clear from the report findings that the 440 million cluster bombs used turn the homes and crucial social areas of the people living in affected countries into de facto minefields. As men and boys are the traditional earners and the majority of casualties, the economic loss for both the short term and the distant future cannot be underestimated.
"Cambodia supports this Oslo appeal to ban cluster munitions which cause unacceptable harm to civilians, and will become an active participant in the process,” said Cambodia’s Deputy Prime Minister Sok An on 14th March, on the eve of the first regional conference on cluster bombs issue in Southeast Asia. Cambodia’s declaration comes three weeks after the launch in Oslo of a process to negotiate a new international treaty prohibiting cluster munitions. Of the 46 governments that agreed to the Oslo Declaration on 23 February to conclude a new international treaty on cluster munitions in 2008, Indonesia was the only one from Southeast Asia.
With millions of unexploded bomblets in Cambodia, Laos, or Vietnam, this area is severely affected by the use of cluster munitions. "By holding the Regional Forum in Cambodia, a country affected by cluster munitions, we want to draw attention to the scope of the problem in Southeast Asia and the urgent need to find a solution,” said Denise Coghlan, Coordinator of the Cambodian Campaign to Ban Landmines.
“It is essential that Cambodia joins the process at the very beginning. The new treaty is likely to result in increased international assistance for the victims of cluster munitions, and for clearance of cluster munitions, so the countries of the region stand to benefit greatly."
Under the watchful eye of international civil society, some 40 governments are about to launch an international process towards a ban on cluster bombs.
Following the failure of disarmament talks in Geneva in November 2006, the Norwegian government will host a state meeting on Thursday 22 and Friday 23 February 2007.
The Oslo Conference on Cluster Munitions (OCCM) is the first meeting in a Norwegian initiative to prohibit cluster munitions that cause unacceptable human suffering.
Handicap International will attend the conference, along with several other non-governmental organisations, including the International Committee of the Red Cross, Human Rights Watch, the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, Landmine Action UK, Mines Action Canada, and some UN agencies. The Handicap International delegation will be managed by Dr. Jean-Baptiste Richardier, CEO of Handicap International France.
© John Rodsted / NPA
One million unexploded submunitions, more than 800 affected zones, hundreds of villages impacted, the conflict of last July has left Lebanon devastated; a country where it is no longer possible to go to school, to cultivate the land or to go to work without running a fatal risk. Since the end of the conflict, 214 people of which 184 civilians have been victims of the cluster bombs. 33% of them were less than 18 years old. The mine clearance of these zones will be long, complex and particularly dangerous. The UN Mine Action Coordination Centre of Southern Lebanon has estimated that between 12-15 months are needed to clean up cluster bombs from this country.
In order to protect the civil population, Handicap International, present in Lebanon since 1992, has put in place a clearance operation since January 2007: Three teams of 15 people each are working close to the town of Tyr, in the village of Al Basourieh. Each team consists of one technical adviser, one team leader, 10 mine clearance workers, one first-aid worker, one community liaison agent and one driver-translator. These operational teams are supported by an administrative team (e.g.: logistics workers and administrative agents). This work of a long duration, which should be completed by next October, has come to fruition thanks to the financing by ECHO.
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Handicap International regrets the hypocritical attitude of the United States, which condemns the methods of use of the submunitions they sell. According to the Department of State, whilst using the American cluster bombs on Lebanon on a grand scale, Israel would have violated the agreement reached with the United States, which imposed a restricted use of these weapons. For Handicap International, the ban of this type of weapon is purely to protect the civil population. This is the message that the organisation will bring to Oslo on the 22nd and 23rd February, where approximately 40 states will meet for the first time, in order to establish an international ban treaty, thereby protecting civilians from inhumane consequences from these weapons.
Handicap International and the other NGO's of the Cluster Munition Coalition (CMC) welcome Norway's decision to start a process on a new treaty to ban cluster munitions "that have unacceptable humanitarian consequences." Handicap International calls on states prepared to take urgent steps to address the humanitarian concern posed by cluster munitions to negotiate a new treaty outside the CCW. The Norwegian initiative was prompted by the failure of states parties to the CCW to launch negotiations on cluster munitions within the existing mechanism.
After five years of talks, states have failed to ban a weapon that continues to maim and kill civilians during use and long after the conflict is over. NGOs call on all states committed to protecting civilians to start work urgently on a new treaty like they did for anti-personnel mines" said Thomas Nash, Coordinator of the Cluster Munition Coalition.
The Third Review Conference of the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) ends today in Geneva. Although 30 states have expressed their willingness to begin negotiations on a new instrument on cluster munitions, this has been rejected by Australia, China, India, Japan, Pakistan, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States. Most of these countries have instead rallied around an alternative proposal by the United Kingdom to continue discussions within the CCW next year on "explosive remnants of war, with a particular focus on cluster munitions". The proposal was still under consideration this morning.
During the conference, both UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) called on states to prohibit inaccurate and unreliable cluster munitions. The ICRC also intends to hold a meeting in early 2007 aimed at identifying the elements of a cluster munition treaty.
Civilians constitute 98 percent of all recorded cluster submunitions casualties, many of them injured or killed while carrying out their normal, daily livelihood activities in places they go to every day, according to Fatal Footprint: The Global Human Impact of Cluster Munitions. This groundbreaking report by Handicap International (HI) is an unprecedented effort to document the impact of cluster munitions on the lives of people in 24 countries and areas which are confirmed to be affected by cluster munitions.
To download the rapport and the key facts, click here
Two months after the conflict unexploded submunitions continue to threaten inhabitants of South Lebanon. This video shows their daily life.
> Video
The Southern Lebanon was laid to waste by last August's fighting. Cluster bombs, dropped on a massive scale during the conflict, especially during the last 72 hours, now pollute the fields, villages, schools, prolonging the war after the war for weeks, months even. Every day, an average of three people fall victim to these weapons, many of them children. The constant threat from sub-munitions is preventing the inhabitants from resuming a normal life. How can they go home, back to school or start cultivating their tobacco fields and olive groves again when every step they take might be their last ?
On July 7th, the Belgian Senate unanimously voted in a bill which aims to ban the manufacture, trade and use of cluster bombs. Ten years after being the first country to apply a total ban on antipersonnel landmines, Belgium, with the backing of Handicap International, Human Rights Watch and Netwerk Vlaanderen, is once again a pioneer in the eradication of cluster bombs. This vote marks the first decisive step which should be confirmed by subsequent stages of the legislative process. Other countries such as Germany, Canada, France, Italy or Norway have also started examining the issue.
