Handicap International Afghanistan, a country that has experienced the devastation of cluster munitions, has become the 62nd State Party to the Convention on Cluster Munitions on the eve of an international conference on the ban these weapons. Cluster munitions were used extensively by Soviet and United States forces in Afghanistan between 1979 and 2002. At least 745 people have been injured by cluster munitions there since 1980. Between October 2001 and early 2002, U.S. aircraft bombarded Afghanistan with 1,228 cluster bombs that contained almost 250,000 submunitions.
Thousands of people in Afghanistan are currently living under the threat of these weapons.
Handicap International is pleased that Afghanistan has ratified the cluster bomb treaty, especially given the pressure it faced from the United States, a known opponent of this international humanitarian process. In May 2011, diplomatic cables released through Wikileaks indicated that the United States had been lobbying high-level officials in President Karzai's government to not sign the treaty.
“This decision is admirable since it shows that the emergency to ban cluster bombs is more important than the political pressures. We are inviting all the States to join the Convention as soon as possible,” said Paul Vermeulen, director of advocacy and political action at Handicap International.
The association has been actively involved in demining in Afghanistan, where it has been present since the 1980s. Currently, Handicap International operates mine-risk education projects, as well as educational sessions about other remnants of war, , like cluster munitions. Handicap International is also involved in victim assistance to promote socio-economic and professional inclusion.
