Ban Advocates Blog

Berihu had the opportunity both to deliver a speech at the opening ceremony, and to present the situation of Survivor Assistance in Africa during the session 4 of the conference on National implementation, Cooperation and Assistance.

Download Berihu's opening speech :

Berihu's opening speech

Download Berihu's VA session speech :

Berihu's VA session speech

Nguyen Thi Huong, Ban Advocate, Vietnam

© Mary Wareham

Distinguished participants!

Ladies and gentlemen! It is a great honor for me to participate in the regional conference on the promotion and universalization of the Convention on Cluster Munitions. My name is Nguyen Thi Huong. I am an indirect victim of cluster munitions from Vietnam.

In 1991 my husband had a cluster bomb accident while working in our own garden. Because of the explosion, my husband lost his left leg and more painfully, my then four-year-old daughter who was playing near her father was killed. I still feel terrified whenever I recall it. The accident caused a huge pain and a nothing can compensate these losses to my life.

Soraj Ghulam Habib, Ban Advocate, Afghanistan

© Mary Wareham

Dear ladies and gentlemen,

I am Soraj Ghulam Habib coming from Herat in Afghanistan. I lost both of my legs and one of my fingers in a cluster munition explosion in 2001.

Cluster munitions prevented me from attending school, playing with other kids, and participating in other social activities. At this time, cluster munitions destroyed my dreams.

In addition, it really affected my family as my father had to pay the medical cost and other related costs for me. Accessing my house became a problem. With my family, we did not face only economical and educational difficulties but also psychological support was not provided for any traumatic situation we have had to face.

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.

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.

Berihu Mesele, Ethiopia

Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, fellow campaigners and survivors,

My name is Berihu, this is Dusica and this is Soraj.

We speak in the name of our colleagues and friends, the Ban Advocates, a group of people who have been affected by cluster munitions. I am sure this group that you can see behind me has become familiar to everyone who has been participating in the Oslo process.

We come from Albania, Afghanistan, Croatia, Ethiopia, Iraq, Lebanon, Lao PDR, Viet Nam, Serbia, Tajikistan and the United States of America.

It is an honor for us to be here before you today. We are proud of this treaty and particularly of the victim assistance provisions. You all have made a difficult decision, but it is the right decision.

On behalf of all survivors, we stand here to thank you, to thank each and all of you, who have made this treaty a reality.

Dusica Vuckovic, Serbia

When we started the Oslo process we had received nothing except pain and suffering, but we hoped that one day we would have a Convention with strong victim assistance provisions.

In fact, these provisions are invaluable to me as a wife of a cluster munition survivor and to my children. I am sure these provisions will be invaluable to thousands of other families since after ratification and full implementation they will bring the safety and dignity which is necessary in our daily lives.

At the beginning of the Ban Advocates project I was the only woman, an indirect victim of cluster munitions, actively participating at conferences. During every conference I would share again and again the most difficult moments of my life.

Besides my husband who was injured, I met many survivors and members of their families and we shared our suffering: we had to cope with the consequences of our tragedies all alone, without any assistance. It is difficult to express how tough this was for us all. While our family members were in hospitals we were fighting and managing to live as we could.

Today the situation has changed. We can say that today is an historical day because the provisions on victim assistance will make our lives easier in all aspects.

Soraj Ghulam Habib, Afghanistan

We believe Article 5 will make a real change in our lives. The question is no longer how assistance will be provided, but how quickly this assistance will be put in place. Please take urgent action now! Our Convention should not remain a piece of paper.

Today I am 17 years old. I do not want to wait years until I am an old man to receive assistance in my community or to be able to get a job. People who are injured by cluster bombs should be able to receive emergency assistance and not be left to die in a hospital like I was until my father saved me.

To do this we need countries to develop victim assistance national plans and budgets, including timeframes; to designate a VA focal point; to start collecting data and take steps to mobilize resources. We ask you to keep your promise. We, the Ban Advocates, are ready to work with you from tomorrow.

Thank you for signing the Convention to prevent the loss of more innocent lives and to give us our rights.

Lynn Bradach, CCW Conference, Geneva, 7 November 2008

I am Lynn Bradach. On Monday I gave my statement about the loss of my son Cpl Travis Bradach-Nall to a US submunition in July 2003 when he volunteered to stay and clear unexploded ordinance in Iraq.

I want to believe that the purpose of these negotiations is to prevent the injury and death of innocent victims and that the standards that are agreed to will lead to this.

I believe that the Convention on Cluster Munitons contains these standards and it is for that reason I encourage all states to sign the CCM in Oslo on December 3.

Ta’s statement, opening ceremony, regional conference in Lao PDR, 20 October 2008,

Sabaidee, my name is Ta and I am from Ban Phone Sa On (Phone Sa On village), Nakai district, Khammuan province. I went to look for food in the forest near my village, I found an object laying on the ground, I did not know what it was, I wanted to check it out to know what it was, I decided to use a 3 meter long stick to touch it, with one touch it caused an exploration, I got injured, I was conscious , so I told my sons to go back to the village and ask for help. My parents and my wife came to help me, they carried me onto a boat and took me to half way and then they changed to a small farming tractor (Tok Tok) to Nakai district hospital, arriving there they could not do much to save me, they transferred me to the provincial hospital, my family had to rent a pick up to take me there, arriving there I had to wait for few days for an operation of my arms, because doctors were on the public holidays for Lao New Year, when they resumed they imputed my arms, I stayed at the provincial hospital for a month and half I had to go back home because I ran out of money to continue my medical treatment until I got fully recovered. I stayed another two weeks at Nakai district hospital, I sold all pigs, cows, and buffalos, I borrowed my relative’s money 1,500,000.00Kip and plus the saving for my family of 500,000.00Kip. and we ran out of money again and we had to go home, I lost my right eye at the accident spot and my left eye blind after that. Then in 2006 when I and my family moved to live in Ban Phone Sa On as where I am now, we earned some money and also borrowed some from our relatives, I went to Savannakhet provincial hospital for treatment in my left eye, I stayed there for 7 days and I spent like 2,000,000.00Kip at that time. At the same time there was a clearance organization came into my village and took me to get my artificial arms, my two older children had to drop out from school. I wish to get more help from you. Thank you.

Branislav Kapetanovic, Opening Ceremony, Dublin's Diplomatic Conference on Cluster Munitions, Dublin, 19 May 2008

Dear Minister, Your Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, Dear fellow Campaigners,

First of all, allow me to express how satisfied, I am to see so many States represented here in Ireland. The sheer number of you gathered here today proves that our common fight against this horrific weapon, whose victims are overwhelmingly civilians and very often children, has gained great significance and momentum.

Looking back, we should all be very proud of what we achieved. I remember well the somewhat difficult takeoff of this process of prohibiting cluster munitions in Oslo, but at the end of the week 46 countries committed themselves to the Oslo Declaration. The process grew stronger and stronger, and with every meeting from Lima to Vienna to Wellington, more countries joined. Today 109 countries are here to negotiate this treaty and I am confident that all States and all individuals in this conference room are here with a common goal: to solve the humanitarian problems that cluster munitions cause, to negotiate in earnest, and to have a successful result.

Umarbek Pulodov, Statement on International Cooperation and Assistance, Wellington Conference on Cluster Munitions, Wellington, 21 February 2008

Thank you, Co-Chair, for giving me this opportunity to speak. I am Umarbek Pulodov from Tajikistan, a cluster munitions-affected country. You may remember my story - if not, you can find it on our blog: www.banadvocates.org

As a Ban Advocate and as representative of cluster munitions survivors, I believe international cooperation and assistance is an important pillar of the future treaty. If I am not wrong, I think we all agreed in Vienna that each State Party has the right to seek and receive assistance under the new treaty. What does this mean in practice?