Handicap International calls on states to ratify and implement Oslo treaty

Oslo and Brussels, 3 December 2008. Today in Oslo, the international community celebrates the signature of the Convention on Cluster Munitions. Largely shaped by cluster munition victims who took part in the diplomatic process, the treaty bans cluster munitions and provides far-reaching provisions for assistance to "those persons directly impacted by cluster munitions, as well as their affected families and communities." This treaty is an important first step for protracted assistance to victims and for the destruction of cluster munition stockpiles. The use of the weapons is now stigmatised, even for countries who haven't signed the treaty as yet.

"I am very happy to have seen the success of our struggle, thanks to our cooperation and unity. I do not want to see any more cluster munitions victims like me, disabled and using wheelchairs," said Berihu Mesele, a Ban Advocate from Ethiopia who lost both his legs following the use of cluster bombs on the Ayder School, close to his house in Mekele. "As a cluster munitions survivor, I am proud that we were included in the Oslo process and that we pushed the governments to understand the victims' position," said Dejan Dikic, a Ban Advocate from Serbia who was injured during the NATO cluster bombing of Nis in May 1999. "This process can help our lives. There is still a lot of work to do, and I will be really happy to return to Afghanistan with this strong treaty in mind, not only for myself, but for the thousands of victims in my country," said Soraj Ghulam Habib, a Ban Advocate from Afghanistan, who was ten years old when he lost both legs because of a cluster bomblet.

Lynn Bradach is a Ban Advocate and the mother of a U.S. marine killed by a US-made cluster bomblet in 2003 in Iraq. She says, "It is now up to me to ask my country the United States of America to stand up and be the nation my son believed he was fighting for. To do all they can to safeguard innocent lives by banning the manufacture, the stockpiling and the use of cluster munitions".

Handicap International has been working with cluster munition victims to shape this treaty signed by a hundred States today. Even the States not present today will have to revise their use of these weapons, which from now onwards are no longer acceptable. "The beauty of the Oslo process is that it enabled individuals whose lives had been destroyed by a weapon to become leaders of a process banning that weapon," said Stan Brabant from Handicap International. "But this treaty is just the beginning; it will take us another ten years to ensure that cluster munition stockpiles are destroyed and that victims receive the assistance they are now entitled to."

Notes to editors: Cluster munitions are weapons that can disperse up to several hundreds of smaller submunitions - sometimes referred to as "bomblets" - over wide areas. They have indiscriminate wide area effects that kill and injure victims during and even years after a strike. They pose an enormous economic, social and psychological threat to civilians. 98 % of all confirmed cluster munition casualties are civilians. As of today, Handicap International has collected individual and detailed records on nearly 14,000 casualties in more than 25 countries and 5 regions of the world .

In May 2007, Handicap International released "Circle of Impact," the first comprehensive study systematically analyzing the impact of cluster munitions on civilian populations through casualty data and socio-economic profiles. Circle of Impact can be found on http://en.handicapinternational.be/index.php?action=article&numero=467

Handicap International is a founding member of the Cluster Munition Coalition (CMC), a coalition of over 270 NGOs from all over the world that campaign together for an international ban on cluster munitions. More: www.stopclustermunitions.org

The Ban Advocates are a group of individuals from communities affected by cluster munitions. They extensively participated in the Oslo process and actively lobbied government delegates. For the Ban Advocates' own words, go to www.banadvocates.org

The Oslo Signing Conference is the sixth global meeting of the Oslo process on cluster munitions, that Norway initiated in November 2006. States represented at the conference shall sign the treaty banning cluster munitions. For more information, go to www.clusterprocess.org or www.osloccm.no