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Friday, June 26 2009

Branislav' statement, Berlin conference on the destruction of cluster munitions, 26 June 2009

berlin_mina.jpg Branislav Kapetanovic, Ban Advocate, 26 June 2009

Your Excellences, ladies and gentlemen, dear fellow activists

On behalf of the Cluster Munition Coalition I would like to express our heartfelt gratitude to the German Government for the swift organization of this conference after the treaty was signed in Oslo. Since then I received the Tipperary Peace Award in Ireland on behalf of CMC, now we have this important meeting. This momentum is a huge boost to all of us in our work.

As we leave to go home to our own countries, we must follow up on the commitments made here to destroy stockpiles and to work with other countries not here to help them join the treaty and destroy their stocks. Simply put, the only way to ensure there is no more use of this weapon is to convince all countries to sign it and to destroy their weapons as states here are doing. I believe in all of you and I am sure that you will do everything in your power to urge other countries to join this treaty.

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Thursday, June 25 2009

Mina' statement, Berlin conference on the destruction of cluster munitions, 25 June 2009

Mina Zunac, Ban Advocate, 25 June 2009

My name is Mina Zunac. I come from Croatia and I am a survivor of cluster munition attack. 98% of recorded cluster munition casualties are civilians, and I am one of them, but I am not just another number. I am a person and I am willing to stand up and demand a change. I am a Ban Advocate.

Today I'll talk about national planning, reporting and international cooperation. What does it mean?

NATIONAL PLANNING –The first point we want to make is that we want you to destroy your stockpiles NOW and not on the eve of the 8 year deadline. Good, early national planning is necessary to do that, including gathering the numbers, types and location of all cluster munitions stocks, how much it will cost, and what technical and financial assistance may be needed.

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Tuesday, June 23 2009

Feedbacks on the Ban Advocates training program, Lynn Bradach, Germany, June 2009

Lynn_germany_final.JPG

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!

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Sunday, June 21 2009

The Ban Advocates training program, Germany, June 2009

Tess_germany.bmp

Last Wednesday, we finished our training on Project Management. The training had looked at different steps of the project for example defining the objectives, managing the budget, evaluating and monitoring the project. Project management should not have any more secrets for us!

On Thursday, in small groups, we followed a presentation on post-traumatic stress disorder. This presentation gave us some general knowledge on psychotraumatology. For some of us, it was the first time that we approached psychological effects of being injured by cluster munitions.

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Thursday, June 18 2009

The Ban Advocates arrived in Germany!

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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.

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Friday, May 29 2009

Congratulations to Thi!

Thi_sport_2.jpeg In March 2009, Thi (living in Quang Tri province, Viet Nam), led his team in Dong Ha during a two-day provincial sport competition. At this competition the best players for the national competition in May 2009 were selected. His team won 8 gold medals, 11 silver medals and a two bronze medals. Thi contributed significantly to the overall success of his team with a gold medal in the shot-put and 2 silver medals in the javelin and discus. Congratulations to him!

Thursday, May 21 2009

Cluster munitions treaty will help rid Vietnam of explosive legacy of war

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.

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Talks on cluster munitions in the US, Lynn

The talks went very well. I've stepped away from my personal story and gone on to the story of the Cluster Munition, the US history of using it and the story of the never ending war because of what is left behind. I believe we had at least 50 folks who attended each of my talks (I was happy with that). Monday I agree to stay and speak to two of Sabiha's class before heading out of town. At each event we had the hands postcards and Lora changed the message and addressed it to Obama and I'm sure we have had well over 150 of them signed, many with personal message asking that the US do what is right by the world. Sabiha my hostess said that they will take care of getting these sent out.

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Thursday, May 7 2009

Branislav's speech, International Peace Award in Tipperary, 1st May 2009

                               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.

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Monday, April 27 2009

Advocacy projects implemented in Afghanistan in 2008

                               Soraj, Ban Advocate, interview with BBC News, Afghanistan, November 2008

On 7th November-2008 Afghan Landmines Survivors’ Organization on behalf of the Cluster Munitions Coalition, organized a Petition event in a public park in Kabul city, and urged the government of Afghanistan to be among the majority of countries worldwide that will sign the convention on Cluster Munitions in Oslo, Norway on December 3rd, 2008.

Invitation to attend on Petition Ceremony and signing the People’s Treaty have been sent to different Government offices, Embassies, UN Agencies, media, INGOs and NGOs but many of the participants didn’t come, maybe due to lack of interest or security reasons. More than a thousand people (men, women and children) signed the petition and People’s Treaty that calls on the Afghan government to support the Oslo process and sign the Convention on Cluster Munitions as soon as possible.

A Ban Bus decorated with the Banners and slogans did a tour around the main town one day before and called the people to participate in the petition event and to sign the People’s Treaty and urge on Government to sign the convention and save the life of our children and no more injury or disability and no more suffering.

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Tuesday, March 31 2009

Soraj’s reaction to the US cluster bomb export ban

Soraj_US_March_09_bis.jpg 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

Thursday, March 26 2009

Ban Newsletter 24

We_made_it.jpg © Federico Visi

BAN NEWSLETTER ISSUE 24, APRIL 2009

Download the complete newsletter :

Ban Newsletter Issue 24

Friday, March 20 2009

Progress Review on Victim Assistance - Voices from the Ground

Experiences of survivors, their families and affected communities pig_blog.jpg

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.

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Tuesday, March 10 2009

Cluster Munition Coalition, Press Release, Belgrade, Tuesday 10 March 2009

KONICA MINOLTA DIGITAL CAMERA Serbia urged to sign the cluster bomb ban

New report highlights full extent of impact of unexploded munitions on population

(Belgrade - 10 March 2009) The Cluster Munition Coalition (CMC) called on Serbia to sign the international treaty banning cluster bombs today at an event to launch a new report by Norwegian People’s Aid that shows how unexploded cluster bomblets continue to threaten tens of thousands of civilians in the country 10 years after the NATO bombing.

“Serbia should sign the Convention on Cluster Munitions without delay, there is simply no reason not to and every reason to do so,” said Thomas Nash Coordinator of the Cluster Munition Coalition (CMC). “Serbia demonstrated leadership by supporting the ban early on in the movement to establish the treaty. Signature now would enable the government to follow through on its commitment to Serbian survivors of cluster bombs as well as with the international community.”

Serbia is not among the 95 governments that have joined the new treaty banning the use, transfer, production and stockpiling of cluster munitions and requiring states to assist victims and clear contaminated land. While Serbia was a strong proponent of the cluster bomb prohibition and hosted the first ever meeting of affected states in October 2007, it has failed to sign the Convention and has made no official statement to explain its stance.

"As a civilian victim from Serbia I am disgusted by the attitude of my government”, said Dejan Dikic who suffered severe injuries from a cluster bomb in 1999. I can't understand it. Serbia was a leader in the process especially on victim assistance. All the survivors in Serbia feel the same, we need support and the government is turning its back on us right when it has the perfect tool to give us the support we need."

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Monday, March 2 2009

Mina's statement, Geneva, 18 February 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.

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Wednesday, February 25 2009

Advocacy projects implemented in Tajikistan from July till December 2008

Umarbek Pulodov, Ban Advocate blog_Tajikistan_feb_09.jpeg

Thanks to The Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund, I received a second grant under the Local Voices, Global Ban Scheme, for advocacy projects implemented in Tajikistan last year.

Four main objectives were defined:

1. To urge our government to adopt the Convention sending notification letter to the governments of Ireland and Norway and to attend forthcoming Oslo conference to sign CM Treaty and to ratify it.

In spite of discussions during the round tables, and meetings with the government representatives, and in spite also of delivering petitions, the Tajik government did not adopt the Convention on Cluster Munition (CCM); nor did it attend the Oslo Conference and sign the Treaty, according to the government due to technical problems, but maybe due to possible fears as regards obligations to be fulfilled under the CCM.

2. to inform local governments’ officials, communities’ organizations and population about the humanitarian and development impact of cluster munitions in Tajikistan.

With the support of Tajikistan Campaign to Ban Landmines (TCBL), I organized 6 community round tables on Ban Cluster Munitions in three affected communities in Tavildara district and three communities in Vanj district. In total more than 1,000 persons participated in those roundtables, as well as representatives of the UNDP, Red Crescent Society of Tajikistan, local government representatives, NGOs and others.

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Wednesday, February 11 2009

Lynn's expectations for 2009

group_Oslo_FINAL_2.jpg 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.

Petitions Delivered to Key Pentagon Policymakers

lynn-laura-petitions-sm.jpg © FCNL (Friends of Committee on National Legislation)

Lynn Bradach; whose son Travis, a corporal in the Marines, was killed in Iraq by a U.S. cluster submunition in July 2003; joined FCNL lobbyists Lora Lumpe and Laura Chirot on Friday January 30 to deliver nearly 9,000 petitions to key staff in the Office of the Secretary of Defense.

The petitions, addressed to Secretary Robert Gates, object to U.S. nonparticipation in the Convention on Cluster Munitions and call on him to announce a moratorium on cluster bomb use and "to publicly declare that the United States supports a ban on the use of cluster bombs in areas that are normally occupied by civilians."

Signatures came from FCNL supporters and cluster bomb campaigners around the country affiliated with the US Campaign to Ban Landmines and Cluster Bombs, which FCNL coordinates.

The FCNL lobbyists and Ms. Bradach met with the principal people who developed the Pentagon's latest policy on cluster munitions. This policy was released in July 2008, just after the world community completed its negotiation of a treaty banning the weapons. The Pentagon officials acknowledged that pressure resulting from the global campaign and treaty had resulted in the new DOD policy, which they view as far reaching and rapidly implemented (by Pentagon timeframes).

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Wednesday, December 17 2008

Raed’s lobbying work in Belgium and Luxembourg, November/December 2008

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.

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Monday, December 15 2008

Cluster Bombs Banned!

© Chris Anderson

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