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موت تحت الأقدام Watch Al Jazeera’s “A Death Beneath” a 50-minute film on cluster bomb victims in Lebanon, Afghanistan, Nepal, and Serbia. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7KFfbzMn5g
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The FOL Campaign Against Cluster Munitions
The use of cluster bombs within Lebanese communities is a clear representation of the ruthless disregard for basic human rights that has battered Lebanon for over thirty years. In early 2007 FOL became a member organisation of the Cluster Munition Coalition and has since campaigned vigorously for an international ban on the weapon and for sustainable accountability in clearance and victim assistance.
Despite intense pressures from its American ally, in 2008 Britain signed its support for a comprehensive Convention on Cluster Munitions. In 2009 Britain included the ratification of the Convention in its legislative programme. In order to demonstrate support for this significant development in British political history, FOL built a ten-day public awareness promotion. With the State Opening of Parliament scheduled for the 18th November Queen’s Speech, this mini-campaign was built to keep the tragedies of Lebanon at the forefront of international attention.
The Public Awareness Promotion
FOL invited three Lebanese guests to join in this campaign: (1) Imad Khachman of the Lebanese National Committee for MRE and MVA, (2) Hussein Zreik, who survived a cluster bomb explosion in April 2008, and (3) his father Ali Zreik, who has been forced to deal with the impact of that explosion. Highlights of their visit include the following:
Imad, Ali and Hussein were filmed for the Press TV show “Remember the Children of Palestine,” drawing parallels between the Israeli aggressions against Lebanon and Gaza. The show was broadcast on the 3rd November and can be viewed online here.
Imad, Ali and Hussein were filmed for the Press TV show “Rattansi and Ridley,” with journalists Afshin Rattansi and Yvonne Ridley. The show was broadcast on Saturday 7th November and can be viewed online here. The three were also filmed at the Islam Channel studios. They were interviewed in great detail without the use of English translation. The show is currently being edited with subtitles and is scheduled to air in the coming weeks. Islam Channel is also due to broadcast both the film “72 Hours” (on the general cluster bomb issue in Lebanon) and “Life is Stronger” (on Hussein’s injury and rehabilitation). On the 4th November, Imad, Ali and Hussein were guest speakers at the FOL event in British Parliament building Portcullis House, hosted by British MP Frank Cook. Also speaking were Brenda Heard of Friends of Lebanon, Thomas Nash of the Cluster Munition Coalition, and Frank Cook, Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Landmine Eradication Group.
The audience was a diverse representation of media, ngo’s, and political offices and embassies, including Hassan Abbas and Marwan Francis of the Lebanese Embassy; Lord Nazir Ahmed, Lord Alf Dubs, and several other Members of British Parliament. Positive feedback included film MP Cook’s statement that he’d found the reality of the documentary film“72 Hours” almost numbing, that it left him almost speechless. Photographer Rania Matar stated that hearing Hussein’s story inspired her to build her next project on the impact of war on the children of Lebanon. CAABU’s Parliamentary Officer Graham Bambrough stated that Imad’s presentation convinced him of the necessity to send additional British delegations to Lebanon to follow up on the issue of cluster bombs. Imad, Ali and Hussein met with the Lady Fatemah Charitable Trust chairman Amirali G Karim at his home in a village north of London. Following a referral from the PADC in Nabatieh, this British Trust has helped fund the physical recovery and rehabilitation of Hussein Zreik. It was beneficial to the Zreiks in particular to see that humanitarian concern for their family extended well into the rolling green hills of England. On the 6th November, Imad, Ali and Hussein participated in a Roundtable Discussion at the offices of the Cluster Munition Coalition. Along with members of the CMC and Landmine Action, the group included documentary film producer Tima Khalil. Topics of discussion included how the International Convention on Cluster Munitions could impact Mine Risk Education and Mine Victim Assistance in Lebanon. On the 9th November, Imad, Ali and Hussein met with the Stop the War Coalition officers Chris Nineham and Lindsey German. It was agreed that we cannot tolerate the civilian casualties of the conflicts fed by Western powers and their Israeli ally. The resulting humanitarian crisis in Lebanon and other affected regions must be highlighted by concerned ngo’s and recognised and addressed by public officials. On Tuesday 10th, Ali and Hussein were guests of honour at a Friends of Lebanon table at a pre-opening evening of As-Saha Restaurant in Paddington. Amongst several FOL members, Abdo Haidar of the London Prosthetic Centre was able to share dinner with the patient for whom he so recently fitted an artificial leg. This was perhaps a fitting illustration that together we can endure and even proper. Conclusion
It must be noted that mainstream Western media has in large degree chosen to remain at a safe distance from the cluster bomb issue. While there has been over the last couple years some occasional coverage of the issue as a curious phenomenon, when given the opportunity to report the issue up close and personal, the Western media characteristically declines. Whether the lack of interest is due to politics or business, or simply to apathy, we can only guess.
The ten-day London visit has however accomplished two overall goals. One, the personal accounts of managing the impact of cluster bombs in Lebanon have allowed the British to see the issue not just as an abstract concept, but as a harsh reality. Two, the conversations and concerns of the British have allowed the Lebanese to understand that—just as in Lebanon—there are many people, indeed many politicians, who are at odds with the official governmental stance. Change for the better can in fact happen, but it will require persistence and determination.
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Hussein Zreik in consultation with Dr Abdo Haidar, six months after cluster bomb explosion; Photo from “Life is Stronger,” produced by OTV Lebanon.
Special Thanks for their support of this project to
Joanna Choukeir—See this FOL member’s take on the 4th November event here. John Yates—FOL member and proprietor of “Unreported World” And thanks to all the other FOL members and supporters who offered their time and energy to make this happen. |
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“There is an issue about Lebanon which strikes hard and deep with me. Anti-personnel mines and cluster bombs usually claim as their victims the non-combatants. They take a very few soldiers. But they take old men, old women, and young children. But they’re meant to take soldiers. They’re designed to take out combatants, to reduce the enemy, to reduce the resistance. Then in Lebanon, in the “72 Hours” that we watched tonight, it was quite different from that. These cluster munitions were targeted at communities.
I found that film almost numbing, it left me almost speechless. . . but none of us can afford to be speechless in light of this. Silence is impermissible. You must take the message out—all of you—and talk to anyone who is prepared to listen about this iniquitous kind of practice. And we must make it loud and clear and persistent.” --Frank Cook, MP, 4 November 2009 |
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“There has been a widespread use of cluster munitions in Lebanon over a number of decades. So the Lebanese people, the Lebanese society, individual survivors, the Lebanese government as well during the negotiations [of the Oslo treaty] were a very strong influence—ambassadors from Lebanon, diplomats who were responsible for making the text of this treaty stronger than it otherwise would have been.
[In negotiating the treaty] we managed to keep the focus always on human beings and on the humanitarian imperative, on the stories like that we saw in the film and heard from Hussein and Ali. . . . I think when you listen to the storie we’ve heard tonight there’s no excuse for getting caught up in details of military necessity and other points that are really less important than the human stories, than human beings.” --Thomas Nash, CMC, 4 November 2009 |
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“I stayed in the hospital over a month. I suffered a lot and I had very severe pain. When I was discharged from the hospital, I wasn’t happy. I used to see my friends playing football and I couldn’t do that. I used to see my parents and my uncle being very sad when they looked at me and my situation. At night I used to see my mother crying.
Those fields, they are our playgrounds, and now they are filled with bombs and we can’t play there anymore. I would like to urge everyone to support the ban on cluster bombs. I know that it will not bring back my leg, but at least it will prevent other children from having the same fate—to be injured, to lose body parts, or to die.” --Hussein Zreik, cluster bomb survivor, 4 November 2009 |
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“When I was working I got a phone call and they told me Hussein was injured and I went straight to the hospital. . . . At that moment I wished that his injuries had happened to me, but not to Hussein. He is my eldest son, a very good son. I wish everyone had a son like him, very polite, intelliegent. He spent almost two months in the hospital. In the first week we weren’t sure if he would die. I thank God at least he didn’t lose his life. His injury is pretty bad, but at least I can see him growing up around me, I can talk to him.
I wish all the people here in the UK, in the international community would help us find a solution for this problem. I went through a difficult time. I used to look at my son like he was dying in front of me. This was very difficult. Maybe now you see me smiling or laughing but it is not really from my heart. I say to the mothers and fathers look at Hussein and what happened to him—can you accept this to happen to my child? Could you accept this to happen to your children?” --Ali Zreik, father of cluster bomb survivor, 4 November 2009 |