Ban Advocates Blog

Here we are all back together again for our last day of training. As Chris Mohr (our current trainer) said yesterday "if this is Tuesday June 23" the subject must be Event Management. I must admit the team is looking rather bleary eyed and the response to questions is not only slow but pretty much nonexistent. However I will remind everyone that this is day 10 of some pretty intense training and even the most amazing folks (which is what this team is made up of) can become overloaded.

Last night we had a final good-by party. It was the last night that at the Manor House that we be gathered just as a team of Ban Advocates. We will be working with other conference members starting Wednesday night. The mood was rather low key compared to our first couple of parties. We actually had the local police stop by to request that we quite down a bit on those occasion's. We all agreed a party is a success when the neighbors are so jealous of not being invited that they call the local police to stop the party!

The Ban Advocates team arrived on Saturday June 13 in Germany. We came from Afghanistan, Albania, Croatia, Ethiopia, Lebanon, Serbia, Sweden, Tajikistan and the United States. We shall stay approximately two weeks in Germany, in order to attend a residential training and a conference on the destruction of cluster munitions stockpiles, on 25 and 26 June in Berlin.

Our training takes place in a village called Gollwitz, not far from Brandenburg. We are all very happy to meet again six months after the signature of the treaty in Oslo in December. The place is really nice and inspiring. The manager of the house where we stay kindly agreed to improve the accessibility of the house.

We took a rest over the week end and enjoyed the quiet life in the German countryside. On Sunday, we went to visit the lovely city of Brandenburg. This week end, we all benefited from a relaxing atmosphere before starting the training program on Monday.

Original English language version of article published in Quan Doi Nhan Dan newspaper on Monday, May 11, 2009

Chuck Searcy is an American veteran of the war in Vietnam. Since 1995 he has lived in Vietnam and worked on humanitarian programs, including Project RENEW in Quang Tri Province – an effort to clean up bombs and mines with support from the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund. Searcy has been awarded Vietnam’s Friendship Medal.

An eclectic and cheerful crowd of 140 guests witnessed Branislav Kapetanovic accept the International Peace Award in Tipperary. The Irish Foreign Minister, Micheal Martin, high level military officials, diplomats from 12 countries, local dignitaries, competitors for the Song of Peace contest and a large CMC delegation were all invited to a luncheon to applaud Branislav as he delivered a moving speech after accepting this prestigious award on behalf of the CMC.

" Minister Martin, Lieutenant General Earley, Ladies and Gentleman, Dear Fellow Activists,

I am very happy to see so many of you again, but first of all I would like to express heartfelt gratitude to the Tipperary Peace Convention on my behalf and on behalf of The Cluster Munition Coalition for this great honor which comes, I feel, at just the right time for all of us. So I thank from the bottom of my heart the organizers of this award, especially Martin Quinn and all the others who took part in deciding to grant us such an honor, which so many special people have received in the past. I believe that this high tribute is the result of the truly great achievement of the hundreds of people involved in the Cluster Munition Coalition. We have put enormous effort and work into the project to achieve this. Our past , present and future goal is to save thousands of potential victims by banning cluster munitions, and you are all witnesses that we have made the most important step on the journey to achieving this goal.

Soraj, Ban Advocate, Obama Headquarters, October 2008

I was at school when I received a call from Mr. Sulaiman Aminy saying that H. E. President Barack Obama will sign a law that will make permanent a ban on nearly all cluster bomb exports from the United States.

Honestly I felt very happy. How it will be exciting and historic in the world when the USA joins the Oslo process and signs, ratifies and implements the Convention on Cluster Munitions – the CCM.

I am sure that when USA joins the Oslo process those states that are not yet part of the Oslo process will also join it.

I am calling on all people in the United State of America, especially the US Congress and the US Senate to support the President Barack Obama and encourage him to sign the CCM and as well other global treaties and stop the suffering of millions affected people and communities in the world, it is really a gold chance and please support your president.

Since we joined the Oslo process which led to this great Convention on Cluster Munitions I found my dreams and brought back happiness to my family through our efforts and advocacy. This convention is not really about the weapon – it is about the people and the people’s right to live in peace, security, and in dignity. This is a great gift to humanity, for this and next generations.

As a cluster bomb victim I am really looking forward to see as many states as possible signing, ratifying and implementing the Convention on Cluster Munitions – the CCM.

And I am calling on all states that are not part of the Oslo Process to please support us and support our treaty and to not let once again the people lose their life, their family and hopes like me. It is harmful for me again when I see a child survivor of cluster bomb or landmine in the wheelchair or with crutches.

Soraj Ghulam Habib, Ban Advocate, Afghanistan

Experiences of survivors, their families and affected communities

A juvenile breeding pig of a pig bank project in Quang Tri Province, Viet Nam: sustainable assistance to survivors and their families can take many forms depending on the social, political and economic context, the capacities of the family or community assisted and the capacities of the organization providing that assistance.

A questionnaire will be used in a document called the Progress Review on Victim Assistance-Voices from the Ground made by Handicap International-Belgium. This document will report on the experiences and knowledge of survivors, their families and communities by looking at the achievements and challenges of the past five years of victim assistance. Your answers to the questionnaire are the most important part of the document because they will help decision-makers improve victim assistance. It will also remind them of their obligations under the Mine Ban Treaty. This document will be published all over the world in September 2009.

Mina Zunac, CCW Conference, side event on victim assistance, Geneva, 18 February 2009

Hi, my name is Mina Zunac, I'm from Croatia and I'm a Ban Advocate. I am a cluster munitions survivor. It happened on May 1995 during bombing of Zagreb. It was a nice sunny day, 11 in the morning, centre of the town, working hours, I was double parked … I come out of the bank, loud sound (at that time I didn’t know that that’s how explosion sound like … IRONIC) My mother was with me, she was fine, my car not so fine … and I spent a year in hospital recovering.

I was 20 at the time, whole world was in front of me, and I was there to concur it. But we are not here to talk about me, we are here to talk about you, and what are you going to do about this. I am a typical representative of MTV generation. I don’t take NO for an answer. I was raised to believe in government and democracy, IN YOU.

I happen to be thinking a great deal about what I'm looking forward to in 2009. I'm so impressed with the fact that so many countries were able to come together in a relative short period of time and agree that Cluster munitions are not an acceptable weapon of war. The cost to humanity far out weighs any sense of security or protection that the weapon generates. This convention must be ratified in order for it to be an implement of protection to society. I want to see the countries that have signed rapidly take that step.

When Lora and I met with the members of the DOD in the Pentagon they said that even though the US did not sign the Oslo Convention it did push the US to change their policies in regard to cluster munitions. The policy now requires the order to come from a four star general and it also states that the US will totally stop using the current form of the weapon within 10 years. My goal this year will be push the administration to take the step that will bring the US in line with the criteria of the Oslo convention.

Raed Mokaled arrived in Belgium from Lebanon on 26 November, ahead of the Convention on Cluster Munitions' Signing Conference in Oslo. On 27 November, he had media interviews in Brussels and on 28 November he traveled with Hildegarde to Luxembourg. There, they met HI-Luxembourg staff and a meeting was organized with Mr. Ben Fayot, the President of the Committee on Foreign and European Affairs, of the Chamber of Representatives of Luxembourg. Raed explained his story, his involvement within the Oslo process, and the importance of as many countries as possible signing the Convention on Cluster Munitions – and most of all the importance of the ratification and implementation of the Convention so that the lives of cluster munitions victims can be effectively improved.

After an intense week in Oslo, Raed came back to Belgium for a few days. On Monday, 8 December, Raed was introduced to the entire HI staff in Brussels. A briefing on the Convention on Cluster Munitions' Signing Conference in Oslo was given to all the staff.