Amazing lobbyists!
By Stephanie Castanie on Friday, May 23 2008, 23:32 - News - Permalink
After being trained and getting experience during recent conferences, this week the Ban Advocates started their lobbying, with a particular focus on the countries which want to weaken the treaty.
The Ban Advocates have already met with no less than 30 different delegations, such as those of Germany, the United Kingdom, Italy, Japan, Australia, and Canada.
At the time of writing, Soraj, Thi and Ahmed are in discussion with the United Kingdom’s delegation, as a meeting has been planned before the start of the conference. In half an hour, Branislav will meet with the Japanese delegation.
When some delegates start talking about new high-technology weapons that are said to be guaranteed not to destroy any more civilian lives, Branislav responds that unless the delegate is personally able to test such a new type of weapon (as such weapons have been only tested in theory, never in practice in the field), then the delegate should not take responsibility for approving their use.
When some delegates start saying their countries must respect the common position of a regional group of countries, Soraj and Suliman ask them to start lobbying for a new position, as each human being must be responsible for his or her own position and should even agree to start to lobby for a change of position, if that is what he or she really believes.
Soraj has asked a powerful question of some delegates: ‘How would you react if what happened to me happened to your own son?’ So far none of the delegates have any technical, prepared answers to this type of question. Some delegates got out of this dilemma by answering ‘Let me think it over and let’s meet again tomorrow’. We hope that they will meet again as promised and keep on discussing with us so they can return to the right path, that of respect for their fellow human beings.
Little by little, the contacts are being established, and no delegates can ignore the presence of the survivors joining this process and taking part in the discussions and negotiations through informal meetings. Some contacts with delegates were made at previous conferences, and the group of Ban Advocates is now putting psychological pressure on the delegates.
The delegates from countries where cluster munitions are manufactured must imagine that they might have born in an affected country and that their own son might have suffered the loss of his legs. Is it not the responsibility of each one of us to be concerned as to what can happen on the borders of our own countries? This is one of the messages survivors would like to communicate to delegates.
Comments