Help us ban cluster bombs
[[This petition has been disabled]]
About the Petition
This web-based petition was launched on 5 November 2007 together with a printed flyer petition that calls for public support for the global prohibition of cluster bombs. The NZ Cluster Munition Coalition will present the petition to New Zealand’s Minister of Disarmament and Arms Control, Hon. Phil Goff, during the Wellington Conference on Cluster Munitions which opens Monday, 18 February 2008.
The petition flyer has been printed in the shape of an M-85 cluster bomblet notorious from its widespread deployment by Israel in Southern Lebanon in August 2006 (the submunition had a much-hyped “self-destruct” feature that failed to function correctly). The flyer features real stories of cluster bomblet victims collected by humanitarian agency Handicap International – see below…
Adnan (Kosovo) - On 17 August 1999, the Maloku family went swimming at a small lake nearby their home village of Nerodimlje in Kosovo. Seven-year-old Adnan came across a yellow metal object, which he did not realise was an unexploded BLU-97 cluster munition deployed by the US during air strikes. The bomblet exploded when his elder brother, Gazmend, dropped it and killing him and their father instantly and injuring Adnan’s left arm and leg. When Adnan’s sister, 14-year-old Sanije went back to the site to pick up the family’s belongings she also she stepped on a cluster munition and was killed instantly. After receiving medical treatment, Adnan returned to school in January 2000. When interviewed in 2005 at the age of thirteen, Adnan said his left arm remained weak and he could not lift heavy things. He lives with his elder sister Ymrije and their mother, who remains deeply traumatized, on the father’s 62-euro monthly pension. Source: Handicap International (Sep. 2005).
Souknha (Lebanon) – During the 2006 conflict with Israel, Souknha left her village of Ayta al-Sha’b in Southern Lebanon as it was heavily bombarded. She returned with her family on the second day of the ceasefire and the next day ventured out with her cousins Hassan and Siknah to see what had happened to the village in their absence. They found a strange object, an unidentified submunition, lying on the street in the center of the village and Marwa picked up the object to take a closer look. Hassan shouted at the girl that the object was likely dangerous and in a panic Marwa threw the object away. It bounced against Hassan’s leg and exploded. Villagers carried Hassan into a car and drove to hospital, where operations were performed to remove shrapnel from his leg, stomach and chest. His intestines, liver and kidneys were severely damaged. Souknha sustained shrapnel injuries all over her body and underwent three operations to remove shrapnel from her stomach, liver and lungs. Source: Handicap International (Sep. 2006).
Wahid (Iraq) – On 29 June 2003, Wahid was walking through his neighborhood in Kerbala, Iraq with his 9-year-old brother when the two boys came across a strange metal object. When 12-year-old Wahid picked up the object it exploded. Despite the obvious presence of civilians, the area had been bombed with cluster munitions. Wahid suffers serious multiple injuries: his right hand was ripped off, three fingers from his left hand amputated, and his body riddled with shrapnel in particular in his knee, left ankle and skull. Wahid has undergone 4 surgical operations. His brother is lucky: only his legs were injured. Their parents have sold most of their possessions to meet the medical bills. Source: Handicap International (Jul. 2003).