Ban Advocates Blog

Today was the last day of this week spent together in Chile. After the conference, each Ban Advocate has followed the CMC and ICBL workshop sessions, following each one needs and interest, choosing between different topics for improving the campaigning work at home.

During four days, the Ban Advocates have been trained along with other campaigners on sessions of: strategies for working with governments in affected countries, advocating on victim assistance, strategic planning, working with the media…

Those four days have also been the opportunity to better know each others, and to brainstorm on ideas to celebrate the entry into force of the Convention on 1st August, as well as discussing campaigning activities on the roadmap to the first meeting of the States Parties in Lao PDR, next November.

To conclude the campaigners’ forum, each one has enjoyed the wrap party, by taking a last glass of even pisco sour or Chilean wine, before heading home with memories of the nice time spent in this welcoming country of Chile!

Dejan Dikic, Ban Advocate

Mine and Cluster Bomb Survivors Urge Governments to Meet Treaty Obligations

Funding from donor states and from affected states themselves is key to ensuring promises on victim assistance are met. “The question is not only how much money is spent, but how well it is spent. Listening to survivors will help direct money where it is really needed,” said Dejan

Download Dejan's speech: Dejan's speech

Download the ICBL-CMC press release: ICBL-CMC press release

Ardjana, Ban Advocate, Albania

The English course is very useful for me; it helps me to improve my English in the school and outside the school. I can speak well now but it needs a little more work.

It was great in Berlin. I have learned many things there and thanks to my interpreter Ilir who translated everything for me, I understood a lot of things.

Thanks very much for offering me this opportunity to improve my English.

Ardjana

----------

My English and computer classes are ok. I do not have any problem.

Now I can speak English 40% and I am first in my class.

Soraj

This week of training for new Lao Ban Advocates has been fantastic. The workshop closed with the most difficult challenge of the week: public speaking. Each one of the advocates were encouraged and found the courage to deliver their speeches in front of the entire group. This was not an easy job, as for some of them, they told their stories for the first time, outside of a familial context.

During the week of training, one of the great successes was to see how little by little the cluster munition survivors got closer to each others, as they shared their experiences about their daily lives. We saw this week some individuals who felt more and more confident taking part in the Ban Advocates group and understanding how their stories and messages can be powerful.

Kien Le, Ban Advocate from Vietnam

Two Ban Advocates from Vietnam, Kien Le and Nguyen Thi Huong spoke at a press conference organized by Handicap International Belgium in Beijing. The event took place at the French Cultural Center where the photo exhibition “Fatal Footprint“ was also presented. Other speakers included the deputy secretary general of the Chinese Arms Control and Disarmament Association, the ambassadors of France and Belgium, and the director of HI China who presented the report “Voices from the Ground.”

Discover the video (see the link below):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WllckSvpWq4.htm

The event attracted about 50 journalists and generated significant media coverage in China.

See for instance

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/dfpd/2009-12/17/content_9192503.htm

The speeches of the Ban Advocates from Vietnam can be found below:

The Ban Advocates from Albania and Serbia attended this regional conference, held ahead of the Second Review Conference of the Mine Ban Treaty. The purpose of the Tirana Workshop was to take stock of the progress made and the challenges lying in South Eastern Europe, in view of reaching the Convention’s goals.

One of the highlights of the workshop was the announcement by Petrit Karabina, the Deputy Minister of Defence of the Republic of Albania, that Albania would be in a position to declare completion of implementation of its obligations under Article 5 of the Convention at the Cartagena Summit.

Moreover, a visit was organized to the Kukes Regional Hospital, as well as to the AMAE (Albanian Mine Action Executive) Regional Office, where a presentation of the activities to assist the victims, has been done by Jonuz Kola, representing the local organization ALB-AID. Those visits enabled us to evaluate the efficient work done in Albania on victim assistance. Indeed, the Albanian example is a good one where 238 victims of mines/ERW have received an efficient assistance, thanks to the cooperation between several governmental and non-governmental bodies. Most Albanian survivors interviewed into the context of the report Voices from the Ground were satisfied by the assistance provided to them.

On 25 September, 2009 France and Burundi formally ratified the Convention on Cluster Munitions, making them the 20th and 21st States to ratify this international humanitarian treaty which prohibits the use, production, stockpiling and transfer of cluster munitions. It also sets out obligations to assist victims of this deadly ordnance, and their families and communities, as well as mobilizing international resources to clear contaminated countries such as Vietnam. Vietnam’s neighbor, Laos P.D.R., was the first nation to sign the treaty at a ceremony in Oslo in December 2008. Since then 100 nations have signed. With France and Burundi now the 20th and 21st nations to ratify, only 9 more ratifications will bring this crucial treaty into force.

During this process, Project RENEW has provided support to Pham Quy Thi, a Vietnam cluster bomb survivor who is a strong campaigner with the “Ban Advocates” initiative sponsored by Handicap International Belgium. Thi’s participation with HI and the efforts of other cluster bomb victims around the globe helped build momentum that led to the treaty signing in Oslo in December.

The UN confirmed today that Croatia became the fifteenth country to ratify the Convention on Cluster Munitions by depositing its legal instrument at the UN Headquarters in New York on Monday - 18 August 2009

Mina Zunac, Ban Advocate from Croatia:

As a survivor of Cluster Munition and Ban Advocate this was a really good news for me and first reaction was "thumbs up" for Croatia. Globally looking Croatia is a small country, we don't have some major impact on international level and our stockpile is small and as much as some bigger "players" could find Croatian ratification insignificant I have to say that this was a big step forward for this region. Delicate political situation on a Balkan due to the resent wars is something that we have to live every day and peace is not to be taken for granted. By this ratification Croatia is clearly showing that we do "mean business" when we are talking long term peace keeping in this region and that we are willing to take first step in removing all that can be consider as a threat by our neighbours.

On June 24th, the Ban Advocates team moved from the training venue to Berlin’s city center, to attend the Berlin Conference on Stockpile Destruction, held on the 25th and 26th of June 2009. 87 of the 98 signatories to the Convention on Cluster Munitions were present, including nearly all signatories with stockpiles of cluster munitions.

During the Conference, two statements were made by members of the Ban Advocates team: one by Mina, from Croatia, who intervened during the session on national planning, reporting and international cooperation; and the second by Branislav, from Serbia, who intervened during the closing session. You can find those two statements on our blog.

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.