The official award ceremony for the 2011 Conrad N. Hilton Humanitarian Prize will take place today in Redwood City, California, following the announcement last month that the 2011 prize has been awarded to Handicap International for its work in assisting people with disabilities in situations of poverty, exclusion, conflict and disaster.
The Entry into Force of the Convention on Cluster Munitions was celebrated in the city of Siem Reap, a world-renowned center of Cambodian cultural heritage. The colorful, well-attended festivities included a parade, live music and songs, games for the many local children who attended, and the premier of an interpretive dance about cluster bombs put on by local students.
The BA seminar and training on Psycho Trauma is part of follow up intervention after the Convention on Cluster Munitions (CCM) conference conducted in Vientiane in November 2010 and provided a great opportunity to increase the skills of the Ban Advocates in the psycho trauma thematic. The workshop was conducted by Mr. Norbert Haberlin, specialist in psychotraumatology. Mr. Norbert had accompanied...
Handicap International has opened two new bases in Pakistan to deliver emergency aid to the worst-affected populations, following the severe flooding which has devastated the country since 1st August. According to the UN, 18 million people have been affected by the floods, which have covered an area two thirds the size of the UK.
It is now 2011, the Landmine Treaty of 1997 went into force on March 1, 1999 and the US is now in the process of reviewing its policy. I ask with all that has happened in the last 12 years how can we be so far behind in joining a treaty that bans the use of a weapon that has proven to harm innocent civilians decades after a war is over. A weapon that US itself has chosen not to use for the last...
The group of Lao Ban Advocates continues to advocate for the implementation of the CCM in Laos and has attended a training workshop from 22-24 Feb 2011. The topic was BA Advocacy - Raising Awareness. The objective of this training was to develop the relevant advocacy skills of the Lao Ban Advocates, and provide them with an opportunity to learn more about the Convention on Cluster Munitions (CCM...
Through the Vientiane Action Plan, agreed upon at the 1st Meeting of the States Parties in November 2010 in the Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR), governments agreed on a 66-point action plan to turn legal obligations in the cluster bomb treaty into concrete actions. Moreover, the Vientiane Action plan has set a new benchmark for the assistance to victims.
Phongsavath is a young Lao Ban Advocate of 19 years old. After a cluster munition accident in 2008, he lost his both hands and he became blind. Phongsavath attended the First Meeting of States Parties to the CCM in Vientiane with the group of Ban Advocates .
Latsamy, Ta, Thoummy and Phet were honored to raise their voices and speak on behalf of all cluster munition victims, directly to H.R.H Princess Astrid of Belgium.
Central and East Africa are regions heavily affected by mines, cluster munitions and other explosive remnants of war (ERW), and as such count many related casualties. Given the call to develop national action plans on victim assistance as per the recently adopted Cartagena Action Plan, and the strong VA obligations laid out in the CCM, Handicap International has organized a workshop for...
