A good cause
During my job search back in November I applied for a position with Oxfam New Zealand that I was ridiculously excited about: conference assistant for the Wellington Conference on Cluster Munitions, hosted by the NZ government and several ngo's from 18-22 February 2008. Unfortunately my lack of international development experience prevented me from landing the job, so I ended up going to some of the public events as a member of 'civil society'. To be honest, I didn't know all that much about cluster bombs, but once you find out more about their use & consequences, it's hard to stay indifferent. A cluster munition is a weapon comprised of a container that is fired, launched or dropped and disperses large numbers (often hundreds) of unguided submunitions or bomblets. The very characteristics that make them attractive to military forces –attacking multiple targets dispersed over a wide area- are those that make them so dangerous to civilians. Some cluster munitions can scatter as many as 650 explosive submunitions over an area exceeding 30,000 square metres. They are notoriously inaccurate and often fail to explode on impact as intended. Tragically, the vast majority of casualties are civilians killed and injured after a conflict has ended: when they return home or simply while going about their daily activities. In countries from Afghanistan and Bosnia-Herzegovina to Tajikistan and Vietnam, people have fallen victim either because they are unaware of the dangers, or because they have no choice but to work on contaminated land. Children playing with these small -often shiny- explosives are also particular risk. In fact, one third of all recorded cluster munitions casualties are children! An added disastrous effect is that in more than 20 countries around the world, unexploded cluster munitions have effectively rendered vast areas of land as hazardous as minefields (e.g. Laos). Locals live in constant fear of bomblets or have to force their lives clearing their villages or towns of the obj
ects. All of this information was brought home in the eye-opening documentary “Unacceptable Harm: 40 years of Cluster Munitions”, which shows how cluster bombs have inflicted a deadly toll on civilians in conflicts from Laos 40 years ago until Lebanon in August 2006. The people affected by this not only lose a limb or their sight, but many can no longer provide in their own livelihood and fall into deep poverty & despair. The film left a lasting impression on me so I thought I'd share my newfound knowledge with the blogger world and possibly even inspire you to act! If you want to support the ban of these weapons or find out more, check out this site or sign Handicap International's petition - it might make a difference. In the end, the 120 delegates at the Wellington negotiations came a few steps closer to ban the use, production, trade and storage of cluster munitions that cause unacceptable harm to civilians. The proposed treaty also seeks to set up a system aimed at helping survivors, clearing contaminated land and destroying stockpiles of the weapons. No surprise that some of the major producers - like the US, Russia, China, Pakistan and Israel- oppose a "blanket ban" and snubbed the conference. But that shouldn't stop others from trying anyway, right?
During my job search back in November I applied for a position with Oxfam New Zealand that I was ridiculously excited about: conference assistant for the Wellington Conference on Cluster Munitions, hosted by the NZ government and several ngo's from 18-22 February 2008. Unfortunately my lack of international development experience prevented me from landing the job, so I ended up going to some of the public events as a member of 'civil society'. To be honest, I didn't know all that much about cluster bombs, but once you find out more about their use & consequences, it's hard to stay indifferent. A cluster munition is a weapon comprised of a container that is fired, launched or dropped and disperses large numbers (often hundreds) of unguided submunitions or bomblets. The very characteristics that make them attractive to military forces –attacking multiple targets dispersed over a wide area- are those that make them so dangerous to civilians. Some cluster munitions can scatter as many as 650 explosive submunitions over an area exceeding 30,000 square metres. They are notoriously inaccurate and often fail to explode on impact as intended. Tragically, the vast majority of casualties are civilians killed and injured after a conflict has ended: when they return home or simply while going about their daily activities. In countries from Afghanistan and Bosnia-Herzegovina to Tajikistan and Vietnam, people have fallen victim either because they are unaware of the dangers, or because they have no choice but to work on contaminated land. Children playing with these small -often shiny- explosives are also particular risk. In fact, one third of all recorded cluster munitions casualties are children! An added disastrous effect is that in more than 20 countries around the world, unexploded cluster munitions have effectively rendered vast areas of land as hazardous as minefields (e.g. Laos). Locals live in constant fear of bomblets or have to force their lives clearing their villages or towns of the obj
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