Survivors’ Stories through the Eye of the Camera

Fatal Footprint in Brussels

To welcome in the international ban on cluster munitions, being signed in Oslo on 3 December, Handicap International presents Fatal Footprint . This exhibition, put together by renowned Belgian photographers, will be in the centre of Brussels throughout December.

Years after the return of peace, antipersonnel mines, cluster munitions and other unexploded ordnance are still found on former battlefields. This exhibition presents the footprint left by these weapons. A footprint that proves fatal for many civilians. An enormous footprint that includes not just the physical harm caused by accidents, but also the socio-economic and psychological consequences resulting from accidents or simply from the presence of this constant danger.

Since its creation in 1982, Handicap International has strived to respond to the distress of survivors by providing them with prosthetic or orthotic devices and helping them to reintegrate within their society. The organisation also tries to prevent accidents through mine and unexploded ordnance risk education and through mine clearance operations. More widely, our teams raise awareness among political decision-makers to encourage them to renounce weapons that primarily affect civilians.

Following the antipersonnel mine ban treaty in 1997, the cluster munitions ban process is finally nearing completion with the signing of the treaty in Oslo on 3 December. The key arms treaty of the decade, it represents a victory for Handicap International and for the NGOs and survivors that have led the campaign against these unacceptable weapons. Raed Mokaled, a campaigner with Handicap International, told his story in Brussels on 27 November before travelling to Oslo to attend the signing of the treaty banning cluster munitions. He said:

I come from Lebanon where my five-year-old son, Ahmad, was killed by a cluster bomb. Ahmad was not a terrorist or a criminal. He was just a child who wanted to play and enjoy life.

To mark the signing of this major treaty, Handicap International asked three great names in Belgian photography, Tim Dirven (Panos), Gael Turine (Vu’) and John Vinck (Magnum), to travel to Cambodia, Colombia, Ethiopia and Laos to meet survivors of mine, cluster bomb and unexploded ordnance accidents. Fatal Footprint is the result of their many striking encounters.

On large 2.5-metre high canvas sheets, the photos will be visible, day and night, as part of a free exhibition, just a stone's throw from Winter Wonders, the Brussels Christmas market.