Update [2010-8-1 10:16:48 by BOHICA]: Today the world's innocents are a little bit safer.
On August 1, 2010, the Convention on Cluster Munitions (CCM) enters into force. Important work towards this goal has been done byThe Cluster Munitions Coalition, an international civil society campaign working to eradicate cluster munitions, prevent further casualties from these weapons and put an end for all time to the suffering they cause. The Coalition works through its members to change the policy and practice of governments and organisations towards these aims and raise awareness of the problem amongst the public.
This is just one reason this treaty is important.
The Problem
Cluster bombs have killed and injured thousands of civilians during the last 40 years and continue to do so today. They cause widespread harm on impact and yet remain dangerous, killing and injuring civilians long after a conflict has ended. One third of all recorded cluster munitions casualties are children. 60% of cluster bomb casualties are injured while undertaking their normal activities.
WHAT ARE CLUSTER BOMBS?
Cluster munitions are large weapons which are deployed from the air and from the ground and release dozens or hundreds of smaller submunitions. Submunitions released by air-dropped cluster bombs are most often called "bomblets," while those delivered from the ground by artillery or rockets are usually referred to as "grenades."
WHAT’S THE PROBLEM WITH THIS WEAPON?
Air-dropped or ground-launched, they cause two major humanitarian problems and risks to civilians. First, their widespread dispersal means they cannot distinguish between military targets and civilians so the humanitarian impact can be extreme, especially when the weapon is used in or near populated areas.
Many submunitions fail to detonate on impact and become de facto antipersonnel mines killing and maiming people long after the conflict has ended. These duds are more lethal than antipersonnel mines; incidents involving submunition duds are much more likely to cause death than injury.
WHO HAS USED CLUSTER MUNITIONS?
At least 15 countries have used cluster munitions: Eritrea, Ethiopia, France, Georgia, Israel, Libya, Morocco, the Netherlands, Nigeria, Russia (USSR), Saudi Arabia, Former Yugoslavia (Serbia), Sudan, United Kingdom and United States. A small number of non-state armed groups have used the weapon (such as Hezbollah in Lebanon in 2006). Billions of submunitions have been stockpiled by some 85 countries. A total of 34 states are known to have produced over 210 different types cluster munitions. More than two dozen countries have been affected by the use of cluster munitions including Afghanistan, Albania, Angola, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cambodia, Chad, Croatia, DR Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Georgia, Grenada, Iraq, Israel, Kuwait, Lao PDR, Lebanon, Montenegro, Morocco, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Syria, Tajikistan, Uganda, United Kingdom, Vietnam and Zambia, as well as Chechnya, Falkland/Malvinas, Kosovo, Nagorno-Karabakh, Western Sahara, and Yemen.
WHY IS A BAN ON CLUSTER MUNITIONS NECESSARY?
Simply put, cluster munitions kill and injure too many civilians. The weapon caused more civilian casualties in Iraq in 2003 and Kosovo in 1999 than any other weapon system.
Cluster munitions stand out as the weapon that poses the gravest dangers to civilians since antipersonnel mines, which were banned in 1997. Israel’s massive use of the weapon in Lebanon in August 2006 resulted in more than 200 civilian casualties in the year following the ceasefire and served as the catalyst that has propelled governments to attempt to secure a legally-binding international instrument tackling cluster munitions in 2008.
Food packet on the left, cluster bomb on the right.
Both of these were dropped all over Afghanistan. Is a child going to be able to tell the difference?
Soraj Ghulam Habib, 16, Herat, Afghanistan
"Before I lost my legs I had great dreams."
I lost both my legs when I found a cluster bomb I thought was a can of food. I was six years old at the time and was walking home from a picnic with my cousin and four other members of my family. My cousin was killed instantly in the blast and the rest of us were injured.
When I got to the hospital, I was so badly injured one doctor even suggested I be given a lethal injection. But after a series of operations I survived. I am now in a wheelchair and my world has shrunk considerably.
Before I lost my legs I had great dreams. When I grew up I wanted to work for my family and society. Cluster bombs have shattered my dreams. I can no longer go to school or play with my friends and my family must support a wheelchair user forever. When people see me in the street they laugh at me and they pity me. But now I am part of this international campaign to ban the weapon that took my legs.
I am calling on governments to deliver a treaty that will not only ban cluster munitions but will provide opportunities for people like me. The treaty must ban the use, production, transfer and stockpile of these weapons immediately.
Sorji's blog
There are many more stories like Sorji's which you can find at the links in this diary. No need to post them.
This is personal with me as one of my friend's son was killed by a US cluster munition during a UXO (Unexploded Ordinance) clearing operation in Iraq.
In her own words:
Hello. I am Lynn Bradach
My oldest son, Marine Corporal Travis Bradach-Nall, was killed by the explosion of a U.S. cluster bomb, during unexploded munitions clearing operations in Karbala, Iraq, on July 2, 2003. Since then, I have been working to end war, clear the refuse of munitions left from war and, most recently, for adoption of national legislation and the international Convention to limit and ultimately ban use of cluster munitions.
I was a speaker at the November 2008 Geneva meetings on the international Convention on Cluster Munitions and was in Oslo, Norway in December 2008 for the signing of the Convention.
Now, more than ever, I am pushing for U.S. adoption and ratification of the Convention.
The Convention comes into effect, for the 106 countries that have signed it and 37 countries that have ratified it, on Sunday, August 1, 2010.
Lynn is a spokesperson for the US Coalition to Ban Land Mines and has testified before congress urging them to adopt the Convention.
The US has not signed the Convention.
On August 1st at noon, I will be joining Lynn and her brother John as we celebrate the entry into force of the Convention at the Peace Memorial Park in Portland, Oregon, and pay tribute to Travis
as we Beat the drum to ban cluster bombs.
Another very good friend of mine wrote a song called Travis John.
The song "Travis John" won Noel "Paul" Stookey's Music2LIfe Grand Prize granted by the Public Domain Foundation at the 2006 Kerrville Folk Festival for songs that make a difference. The cash award was donated in Travis' name to Adopt-a-Minefield toward the elimination of landmines in war torn countries, a cause now championed by Travis' mother, Lynn Bradach, in memory of her son. Travis John was a young neighbor of ours in Portland, Oregon, who was killed in Iraq.
"Travis John" was written the day that Travis John was laid to rest in Portland, Oregon. The song rose to become an anthem for peace in the voice of one young soldier. The CD "Pearls" caught the ear of the grandfather of folk, Pete Seeger, who bought copies to share with friends, including Bruce Springsteen, and fellow peace activists. It has been used as the soundtrack in the documentary "Military Families Speak Out: Oregon"; inspired a ballet choregraphed by Josie Mosely for the Oregon Ballet Theatre and danced by Patrick Kilbane. It has been arranged for choral shape-note singing and is widely sung at peace marches, vigils, funerals and singalongs by people from diverse backgrounds and political views around the country.
The song "Travis John" is dedicated to the memory of Corporal Travis John Bradach-Nall.
Kate will not be in town so I have been drafted to sing it. I hope I can without choking up.
A visual history of the campaign.
Banning Cluster Bombs: the campaign and the treaty
Some links:
Lao National Unexploded Ordnance Programme (UXO LAO)
International Campaign to Ban Landmines.
The Nobel Peace Prize 1997 was awarded jointly to International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL) and Jody Williams "for their work for the banning and clearing of anti-personnel mines"
Landmine and Cluster Munition Monitor