Statement of Mokaled on the First intersessional meeting on the Convention on Cluster Munitions

My name is Raed Mokaled, I am a CMC campaigner from Lebanon and a cluster munition victim, because I am the father of a 5-year-old boy who was killed by a cluster bomb. As my colleague from Laos has mentioned, improving the accessibility and quality of services is a key commitment of the Vientiane Action Plan. In so many affected countries, emergency medical care, physical rehabilitation services and economic inclusion programs remain out of reach for many survivors, their families and members of affected communities.

In particular, peer support, an effective type of psychosocial support, is rare to non-existent in Laos and Lebanon as well as in Afghanistan and Iraq and in states not party, such as Serbia and Vietnam. We want to hear about improvements and about efforts to ensure that implementation is both age and gender appropriate. A key first step in ensuring appropriate services where and when needed is the collection of relevant data. States Parties committed to collect all necessary data, disaggregated by sex and age, and to assess the needs and priorities of all cluster munition victims within one year of entry into force.

As we know, cluster munition victims as defined by the convention include families and communities. But so far, states have been reporting only on those people who were killed and injured by cluster munitions remnants. In order to address the needs of all cluster munition victims, states will need to collect data that will inform their efforts to implement services for all cluster munition victims including those people killed and injured during cluster munition strikes as well as the families and communities of all people directly affected. Laos, as we know, was the most heavily cluster bombed country in the world, so the number of victims must be far beyond those counted among the mine/ERW casualties counted in the national survey.

The people of Lebanon were heavily affected by the use of cluster bombs. Most recently, in 2011, people in Libya became cluster munition victims during strikes. The needs of these people, the families and their communities must also be recognized and addressed. States should report how data has been made available to all relevant stakeholders and contributes to national injury surveillance and other relevant systems for use in program planning and implementation. Within one year of the Convention entering into force, each state should have reviewed national legislation in order to ensure laws and regulations protect the rights and meet the needs of cluster munition victims.

With only a month to go for most States Parties, we expect reporting on this will be presented during this meeting. States Parties could put more detail on victim assistance in Form H of Article 7 transparency reporting. More detail on this can be found in the fact sheet outside the room. We congratulate D.R. Congo for submitting a voluntary report which included information on victim assistance. We encourage other signatories and states not party to do the same. We look forward to broader discussion on best use of the more comprehensive reporting format. Finally, most states at this session do not have experts on their delegations let alone representatives of disabled persons organizations or cluster munition victims.

Yet according to the Vientiane Action Plan, cluster munition victims should be included in all convention-related activities. Intersessional meetings are one of the most significant opportunities for the participation of cluster munition victims at the international level, as this is where the most work gets done. We expect to see more survivor participation at the Meeting of States Parties in Lebanon in September, where we will also be waiting to hear about concrete steps for implementing Article 5 of the Convention through the Vientiane Action Plan framework and in line with other international humanitarian and human rights laws.

Thank you.