Five Years on July War and Dispersal of Cluster Bomblets: CMC Remembering Victims

Local Editor

Five years after millions of cluster bomblets were dropped on southern Lebanon, the Cluster Munition Coalition (CMC) is remembering victims of cluster bombs worldwide, and calling on countries to join and implement the 2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions which bans the weapons and lays out a framework to assist communities already affected by them, said the CMC website on Thursday.

Friday marks one month until Lebanon will host and preside over a global meeting in Beirut from 12-16 September 2011 to advance the work being done to adhere to the treaty and prevent further lives from being destroyed as a result of these indiscriminate weapons.

The Cluster Munition Coalition said that Lebanon is an appropriate location for this meeting as it was the extensive use of cluster bombs in Lebanon in August 2006 that contributed to the sense of humanitarian urgency that underpinned the diplomatic ‘Oslo Process' and galvanized governments into banning these weapons.

The UN estimates that four million cluster bomblets were dropped by Israel on Lebanon's rural south in August 2006, a quarter of these weapons failed to explode on impact.
 
As is the case in almost every country where cluster munitions have been used, these weapons killed and injured civilians both during strikes and long afterward. They still continue to pose a lethal threat years after the conflict ended, denying people access to land and hampering development. Cluster submunitions have been identified as the cause of at least 690 civilian casualties in Lebanon, over half of which occurred since 2006.

"Governments who come to this meeting and visit the communities in my country where these weapons pose a daily danger cannot fail to understand how important it is that they act on their promises to rid the world of these ruthless weapons. I hope that by seeing the real impact of cluster bombs delegates will join us in encouraging every state to sign up to this lifesaving ban," said Habbouba Aoun, of the Landmine Resource Centre in Lebanon, and a member of the Cluster Munition Coalition.

"We expect states to come to Beirut with serious, practical plans to implement the treaty, helping to save even more lives and ensure that those most affected get the assistance they need," said Laura Cheeseman, director of the Cluster Munition Coalition.

Source: CMC Website