The Campaign against Cluster Munitions
Cluster Munition Monitor 2011
Cluster Munition Monitor report covers cluster munition ban policy, use, production, trade, and stockpiling for every country in the world, and also includes information on cluster munition contamination, casualties, clearance, and victim assistance. The report focuses on calendar year 2010, with information included up to August 2011 when possible.
YouTube video: the Monitor in brief. Less than six minutes to learn what is happening now to support the victims of landmines and cluster munitions, today and tomorrow.
Full information here.
Second Meeting of States Parties (2 MSP) to the Convention on Cluster Munitions, Beirut, Lebanon 12-16 September 2011
Details at: http://www.clusterconvention.org/msp/2msp/
Cluster Munitions in Lebanon
Contamination and Impact
Cluster munitions were used in Lebanon by Israel in 1978, 1982, and 2006, contaminating some 55km2 of land. Cluster munition contamination originates primarily from August 2006. Israel used about four million submunitions in Lebanon, of which hundreds of thousands failed to explode and were left behind after the attacks. As of May 2011, 18.1km2 was suspected to still be contaminated by cluster munition remnants across 758 suspected hazardous areas.
Clearance
Of the 55km2 of contaminated land, the Lebanon Mine Action Center (LMAC) reports that two-thirds (some 36.8km2) had been cleared by May 2011. Of the remaining threat, 98% is said to be from cluster strikes in 2006. More than 200,000 unexploded submunitions have been cleared by deminers since August 2006. According to LMAC, if Lebanon’s national mine action strategy is fully funded the country can be free from the impact of cluster munitions by 2016.
Casualties and Survivors
Cluster munitions are reported to have caused a total of 704 casualties from 1975 to December 2010. From the August 2006 strikes to the end of 2010, 366 casualties had been recorded. The majority of casualties are adult males. The total number of mine and explosive remnants of war casualties in Lebanon recorded between 1975 and June 2011 is 3,846 (900 killed and 2,946 injured). Recorded number of survivors from mines and explosive remnants of war, including cluster munitions, through June 2011 in Lebanon is 2,946.
Cluster Munitions in the Middle East and North Africa
Three countries from the region have signed the convention. Lebanon and Tunisia have also ratified and are full States Parties, While Iraq has signed but not yet ratified. Bahrain, Morocco, and Qatar joined in the consensus adoption of the convention at the conclusion of the Dublin negotiations in May 2008, but have not signed. As the host of the Second Meeting of States Parties in September 2011, Lebanon has prioritized efforts to get other states from the region to join the convention.
States in the Middle East and North Africa that are confirmed to be contaminated by unexploded submunitions include Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, and Syria, as well as the not internationally-recognized area of the Western Sahara. In April 2011, Libyan government forces used cluster munitions in the city of Misrata. In the two most heavily affected states in the region (Iraq and Lebanon), there were nearly 4,000 confirmed cluster munition casualties as of the end of 2010 and estimates of more than twice that number.
Cluster Munitions in the world
Cluster munitions have been used during armed conflict by 19 governments since the end of World War II. There have been two instances of new use of cluster munitions since the convention entered into force on 1 August 2010, both by states that have not joined the convention: Thailand and Libya.
At least 28 states and three not internationally-recognized areas are believed to be contaminated by cluster munition remnants. The most severely contaminated are thought to be Lao PDR, Vietnam, Iraq, Cambodia, Nagorno-Karabakh, Western Sahara, Serbia, Lebanon, Mauritania, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Sudan.
Cluster munitions have killed and injured many thousands of people around the world: casualties have been recorded in at least 30 countries. Those with the most casualties are Lao PDR, Iraq, Vietnam, Afghanistan, and Lebanon. Almost all known cluster munition casualties have been civilians with the majority being men and boys. A significant proportion of casualties were children who unknowingly came across unexploded submunitions while playing. Cluster munition victims, including people injured and family members of people killed, require long term assistance to adjust to living with a disability, psychological trauma, or the loss of a loved one who was often the primary wage earner. In addition to the risk that unexploded submunitions pose to people’s lives, they also cause fear and prevent development in contaminated communities. The Convention on Cluster Munitions includes legally binding obligations to assist cluster munition victims.
What are cluster munitions?
Cluster munitions consist of containers and submunitions. Launched from the ground of dropped from the air, the containers open and disperse submunitions indiscriminately over a wide area. Many fail to explode on impact, but remain dangerous, functioning like de facto antipersonnel landmines. Thus, cluster munitions put civilians at risk both during attacks due to their wide area effect and after attacks due to unexploded ordnance.
What is the humanitarian problem with cluster munitions?
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 unexploded submunitions are more lethal than antipersonnel mines: incidents involving unexploded submunitions are more likely to cause fatalities than landmines, and also often cause multiple injuries and amputations.
111 countries have joined the Convention on Cluster Munitions:
Afghanistan, Albania, Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Benin, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Canada, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Cameroon, Chad, Chile, Colombia, Comoros, DR Congo, Republic of Congo, Cook Islands, Costa Rica, Côte D’Ivoire, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Djibouti, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Fiji, France, Gambia, Germany, Ghana, Grenada, Guatemala, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Haiti, The Holy See, Honduras, Hungary, Iceland, Indonesia, Iraq, Ireland, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Kenya, Lao PDR, Lebanon, Lesotho, Liberia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia FYR, Madagascar , Malawi, Mali, Malta, Mauritania, Mexico, Republic of Moldova, Monaco, Montenegro, Mozambique, Namibia, Nauru, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Niger, Nigeria, Norway, Palau, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Portugal, Rwanda, Samoa, San Marino, Sao Tomé and Principe, St. Vincent and Grenadines, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Slovenia, Somalia, South Africa, Spain, Swaziland, Sweden, Switzerland, Tanzania, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Uganda, United Kingdom, Uruguay, and Zambia.
See www.stopclustermunitions.org/treatystatus for details. Status as of 22 September 2011.
Reports on Cluster Munitions used against Lebanon
Cluster Munitions in Lebanon- Landmine Action – November 2005
Foreseeable Harm – Landmine Action – October 2006
M85 – Analysis of Reliability – Norwegian People’s Aid – 2007
Flooding South Lebanon – Human Rights Watch – February 2008
Counting the Cost – Landmine Action – May 2008
‘5 years since 2006 Lebanon Israel conflict – clearing cluster bombs with 1st all female BAC team’ 17 June 2011 | Tyre, Lebanon
A video report by Samantha Bolton:
‘It has been five years since the massive use of cluster bombs in south Lebanon during the conflict between Hezbollah and Israel in July/August 2006. The horrendous impact it had on civilians – as widely reported in the media – helped kick-start the Oslo Process just a few months later. This led to the Convention on Cluster Munitions banning these weapons’.
Read more and watch the video report here.
In the 2006 war between Hezbollah and Israel, one million cluster bomb munitions rained down upon the fields, orchards and villages of South Lebanon. An estimated 30% failed to detonate. Three years later, teams of locally recruited and trained deminers race to clear the land before more civilians are injured or killed.
Remnants of a War are a feature documentary, photographed in beautiful high definition that takes an intimate look into the lives of these brave men and women. Director Jawad Metni filmed for over two years in Lebanon, spending months embedded with the demining teams in the field, and capturing moments of joy, anxiety, and resilience. The film is a primer on the cluster munitions problem, and a portrait of a people struggling to make a decent living and return the land to their fellow Lebanese.
Visit the Remnants of a War website to view a trailer and order copies of the film.
11 minute documentary:The cartoonist Patrick Chappatte travelled to Lebanon in February 2009, two and a half years after the war between Israel and Lebanon. In a cartoon documentary he describes how the population of the affected area lives with the constant threat of death or disfigurement through unexploded cluster munitions. Millions of these bomblets were scattered during the conflict and many failed to detonate. Thus, the 2006 war continues every time someone steps on an unexploded submunition. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8KFfP4wiluA
Friends of Lebanon is a member organisation of the Cluster Munition Coalition
