Ban Advocates Blog

I organized a Ban Bus tour around affected regions of Tajikistan. I informed the communities about the Convention on Cluster Munitions (CCM), and explained to them that implementing this Convention will stop harming civilians, and will provide more assistance for survivors and affected communities.

The key objective of this action was to raise awareness of people in remote affected regions and locations and to help them raise their voices, in order to urge the Government of Tajikistan to join the Oslo Treaty.

During the Ban bus tour I met with a lot of people and I distributed brochures, flyers and booklets about the CCM. I also met with the representatives of Hukumats (local district government) in the affected regions of Tajikistan, briefed them on the situation of cluster munitions in the country, and asked them about their expectations of this Convention.

This action was also covered by the media and was broadcast by the government TV channels “Tajikistan” and “Safina”.

Umarbek Pulodov

In the framework of actions devoted to celebrating the Entry into force of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, the Tajikistan campaign has organized a Round Table on 3rd August 2010. This event was attended by the representatives of the Presidential Administration, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Defense, Tajikistan Mine Action Centre, local NGOs, Mass Media as well as landmine and cluster munitions survivors.

Round Table participants were informed on the progress with the ban of cluster munitions worldwide, and on efforts toward the Convention’s universalisation. Also participants were informed about the current situation with cluster munitions in Tajikistan. We also briefed our guests on the forthcoming 1MSP, which will be held in Lao PDR.

On 1st August 2010, the organization ALB-AID started a series of events to celebrate the entry into force of the Convention on Cluster Munitions (CCM).

A group of cluster munition survivors from northeast Albania, survivors from the Gerdec explosion and representatives from Albanian civil society were involved in the activities. A popular drum band was invited to start drumming.

This historic celebration of the entry into force of the CCM was organized in front of the Academy of Arts, right next to the presidency in Tirana. A total number of around 60 participants were present when the entrance into force of the convention was initially announced by Mr. Jonuz Kola and Mr.Ilir Shkalla.

Survivors of cluster munitions from Kukes villages, children from affected communities (Gerdec), Albanian Mine Action Executive, civil society and representatives from other NGOs attended this event.

Phongsavath presented in a Q & A session at the COPE visitor’s centre this morning - to two consecutive groups of 25-30 Australian Development Scholarship winners (being organized by Vientiane College).

Phongsevath spoke about the Ban Advocates, told the story of his accident and his life since, and spoke about how cluster bombs are affecting the Laos people and why they should be banned. He spoke confidently, for a good amount of time, and happily answered questions. Phongsevath ran the second session by himself, asking for questions at the end, thanking the audience, and made a number of jokes which the group appreciated. He was fantastic and totally capable and has improved tremendously since the workshop in January.

Each year the 4th of April belongs to the UN International Day for UXO/Mine Awareness and Assistance in UXO/Mine Action. To mark the day, the National Regulatory Authority for the UXO/Mine Action Sector (NRA) in Laos invited all operators to participate in a public event under the slogan ‘No more cluster munitions’, which was held at the Patuxay monument in Vientiane Capital, on Sunday, 4th April 2010.

The Lao Ban Advocates came from their villages all over the country to Vientiane for the weekend, so that a second advocacy training workshop could take place on Saturday before the main event on Sunday. The first week-long workshop in January 2010 was such a great success (report on the blog: 15 January 2010) that all participants were excited and enthusiastic about participating in round two.

Lynn Bradach, Ban Advocate, First Committee Meeting at the U.N, New York, 23 October 2009

© Mary Wareham

I am a Ban Advocate, and I have been volunteering with the USCBL and the CMC for several years now, communicating my message as the mother of a U.S. marine who was killed while clearing cluster munitions. Starting in September 2009, I began working as a part-time staff member with the USCBL, a coalition of U.S. NGOs engaged in pushing the U.S. towards joining both the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty (MBT) and the 2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions (CCM). Currently, Handicap International U.S. (HI-US) coordinates this coalition.

After a long time, we finally succeeded to meet on Wednesday 30 September 2009 in his office, H. E. Mr. Kabir Frahi, acting Minister of Foreign Affairs in Afghanistan.

We met the minister together with Afghan members of the Cluster Munition Coalition (CMC), Advocacy Committee members, the Deputy Minister of MOLSAMD and a Member of the Parliament. The agenda of the meeting was on the ratification process of the Convention on Cluster Munitions (CCM) to be started as soon as possible, the need for Afghanistan to participate in the Cartagena Summit, and the need for the Afghan government to sign and ratify the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). But we focused the discussion mainly on the Cartagena Summit and the ratification of the CCM.

On 2 September 2009 Ban Advocates from Serbia joined the global launch of the breakthrough report “Voices from the Ground” locally at a national release event in Belgrade. Speakers at the well attended press conference held by Handicap International included local representatives of mine and explosive remnants of war survivor associations.

Svetlana Bogdanovic, a key support staff member of Ban Advocates since the project’s inception was also the coordinator for the survey of mine and ERW Survivors throughout Serbia which formed the basis of the Serbia Country section of the “Voices from the Ground” report. Svetlana spoke at the event and drew on her international experiences while describing the survey process and the situation those survivors surveyed had presented.

Dejan Dikic, Ban Advocate from the Civilian War Victims Association of Nis spoke about the situation for civilian survivors and the hopes for the future of provisions for victim assistance in the Convention on Cluster Munitions, which Serbia is yet to sign.

Ban Advocate and CMC spokesperson Branislav Kapetanovic and Ban Advocates Sladjan and Dusica Vuckovic also attended the launch and were available for media interviews.

On 9 July 2009, the Tajikistan campaign and the Afghanistan campaign met with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Tajikistan. We met with Mr. Iskandarov, Head of the UN Department, as well as Mr. Jonmahmad Rajabov, Head of the Tajikistan Mine Action Centre.

The meeting began with an introducing statement by Mr. Rajabov. Other meeting participants included Bakhtiyor Begmuradov, Umarbek Pulodov, Suliman Amini and Mr. Iskandarov. The meeting was really positive and we gave Mr. Iskandarov a copy of the Convention on Cluster Munitions (CCM) in Russian, the Cluster Munition Coalition Briefing paper in English and Tajiki, as well as several booklets and flyers (prepared by Umarbek). At the beginning of the discussion, Mr. Iskandarov asked Umarbek about his meeting with the Tajik Embassy in Berlin during the Berlin conference. He said: “How was the meeting with Ambassador Imomuddin Satorov?” Umarbek answered that he met with the Ambassador together with Suliman Amini and Stephanie Castanie. He said that they spoke to Mr. Sattorov from the perspective of cluster munitions victims and that all those countries who signed the Convention are now ready to destroy their stockpiles. Umarbek called on the Tajikistan government to think about its victims and to sign the CCM as soon as possible.

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.