Takoma Park, Maryland — As President Obama weighs the possibility of launching strikes on Syria following the Syrian government’s alleged use of chemical weapons, Handicap International urges the United States government to avoid any use of cluster munitions.

For more than three decades, Handicap International has witnessed and responded to the devastation wrought by cluster bombs. Designed to break open in mid-air, cluster bombs release hundreds of bomblets, or submunitions, over an area that can be as large as several football fields. When submunitions explode, they fire hundreds of fragments of metal that travel at the speed of a bullet. Not only are cluster munitions indiscriminate weapons that kill and maim innocent men, women, and children when deployed, but many submunitions fail to explode on impact and become de facto landmines that continue to pose a fatal threat to civilians decades after conflict has ended.

An August 27 New York Times article noted that any U.S. strikes “are expected to involve scores of Tomahawk cruise missiles launched from American destroyers in the eastern Mediterranean Sea…” Tomahawk missiles can carry different types of payloads—including cluster submunitions. One particular missile model type—which has been reportedly used by the U.S. in Afghanistan, Iraq, Serbia, Sudan, and as recently as 2009 in Yemen—can carry a payload of 166 BLU-97 cluster bomblets.

“Make no mistake: a BLU-97 cluster bomb is not a targeted weapon, and the submunitions that fail to detonate will haunt Syrians for years after the conflict ends,” said Elizabeth MacNairn, Executive Director of Handicap International-US. “Such unexploded bomblets, which look like toys to children and can tempt those searching for valuable scrap metal, will result in death and disabling injuries.”

The U.S. is not a States Party to the 2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions an international treaty signed by 112 countries banning the use, production, transfer, and stockpiling of cluster munitions. 

Handicap International is an impartial aid organization, and does not make comment on whether or not the U.S. should take military action. However, MacNairn noted that any use of cluster munitions would “put the very Syrians the U.S. is hoping to protect in serious danger.  A full recovery in Syria would be stalled until all unexploded bomblets could be cleared—a careful, dangerous process that would take years to complete.”

About Handicap International
Co-winner of the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize, Handicap International is an independent international aid organization. It has been working in situations of poverty and exclusion, conflict and disaster for 31 years. Working alongside persons with disabilities and other vulnerable groups, our actions and testimony focus on responding to their essential needs, improving their living conditions, and promoting respect for their dignity and basic rights. Since 1982, Handicap International has set up development programs in more than 60 countries and intervenes in numerous emergency situations. The network of eight national associations (Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States) works constantly to mobilize resources, jointly manage projects and to increase the impact of the organization's principles and actions. Handicap International is one of six founding organizations of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, and winner of the 2011 Hilton Humanitarian Prize. Handicap International takes action and campaigns in places where “standing tall” is no easy task. Handicap International has been working with Syrian refugees in Lebanon and Jordan since the summer of 2012. www.handicap-international.us

In January 2013, Abeer Ameen, 23, joined Handicap International’s emergency mission as a physical therapist in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley. She sent this update in August:

Many Syrian refugees living outside camps across countries in the region are losing out on the help they desperately need, according to five international aid agencies today.

Takoma Park, Maryland — CARE International, Oxfam, Danish Refugee Council, Handicap International and World Vision are increasingly concerned that with more than 1.4 million – 80 percent of all Syrian refugees – living in tents, temporary settlements, or over-crowded and expensive rented accommodation, the international response is failing to match the scale of the crisis.

Neighboring countries are struggling to cope with the huge number of refugees. In Lebanon Syrians make up a quarter of the population¹ and are living in at least 1,200 locations. Just 131,000 of the half a million refugees who fled to Jordan are living in Zaatari camp.  Many refugees, particularly those scattered outside cities across the region, struggle to get information on the support services that are available to them.

The aid agencies say that the international community must massively step up its response to the growing crisis.

"People are living in shopping centers, empty garages or make-shift tents on derelict land. They are struggling to survive on little or nothing, and many are falling through the cracks. With no immediate end in sight to the conflict the problem will only get worse. The UN describes this as the biggest refugee crisis since the Rwandan genocide in 1994 and we need to make sure assistance reaches refugees no matter where they are,” said Oxfam’s Syria Response manager, Colette Fearon.

The aid agencies are calling on donor countries to dig deep and find more money to help them scale up the humanitarian response, particularly in Jordan and Lebanon which are hosting more than a million refugees between them. There is also a growing need to support host communities and governments, where basic services are coming under pressure from increased use.

At the same time, almost seven million people – a third of the population – are desperately in need of aid inside Syria.

In June the UN launched its largest ever humanitarian appeal for $5 billion to support the Syria crisis but has only received 36 percent of the money required.

Due to the huge number of people fleeing the conflict, refugees are pursuing whatever options they can to find shelter. Many arrive with just the clothes on their backs and need help to cover basic costs such as food, safe drinking water and a roof over their heads.

Health care has become a luxury that many cannot afford. For people with injuries, the situation is especially critical as the lack of available services often leads to further impairments.  Vulnerable groups, such as the elderly and persons with disabilities or chronic disease, do not have access to essential services, unless they are offered by organizations like Handicap International.

According to World Vision, rents in parts of Lebanon have soared, often by as much as 200 percent in just a six month period. Though rents are increasing, employment opportunities and pay have not kept pace. In Lebanon, where refugees are prohibited from working in many professions, jobs that are available are usually poorly-paid and offer little or no security. While some agencies, including CARE International and Oxfam, are offering cash support to help refugees pay their rent, this is not a long-term solution.

“People left Syria with nothing and are trying to carve out a new life for themselves. But they are starting from scratch and everything is expensive. Many are getting into increasing debt in order to survive,” said Hugh Fenton, Danish Refugee Council Regional Director in North Africa and the Middle East.

“The international response so far has failed to meet the basic needs of the majority of the refugees, putting them at risk of further hardship and suffering. We need donor countries to dig deep and increase funding so aid agencies can expand their relief efforts. With the number of refugees rising and their needs increasing, it is critical the international community do more to fill the funding gap that is preventing us helping more people: failure to do so could be catastrophic."

The agencies also say fears are mounting of the impact of poor living conditions on refugees’ health. Even amongst those refugees living in rented accommodation, few have access to running water or a separate toilet or bathroom and those living in tents have limited sanitation facilities, increasing the risks of disease particularly given temperatures regularly reach 110F (40C). In Jordan, more than a quarter of refugee households in the Mafraq region have no access to water, while some children living in a tent community in West Balqa could only bathe once every 10 days.

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NOTES TO EDITORS

1. The Lebanese Government estimates that there are one million Syrians in Lebanon, 650,000 of whom are refugees registered or in the process of registering with UNHCR. The remainder include groups such as migrant workers and their families, professionals and students who are unable to return to Syria.

To interview Handicap International experts, please contact:
Mica Bevington (240) 450-3531

All other media enquiries: please contact Lindsay Clydesdale, Oxfam media officer, +961 76 740 489 or [email protected]

Interviews, pictures and film are available on request.

CARE International has reached about 110,000 Syrians in Jordan, providing cash assistance to pay for basic living costs, including rent, food and clothes, essential relief items and vital information on how to access further health care and social support. In addition, CARE supports Jordanian host communities. In Lebanon, CARE is planning to meet approximately 150,000 refugees’ and vulnerable host communities’ basic and pressing needs. In Egypt, they aim to reach at least 20,000 refugees with cash support and assistance on sexual and gender based violence.

Danish Refugee Council (DRC) has a long history in the region and is currently present in Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey and Iraq. More than 550,000 displaced people have received assistance from DRC in the region in the first six months of 2013, more than 300,000 of those inside Syria. DRC’s assistance includes distribution of mattresses, blankets, clothes, hygiene kits, diapers, food and fuel coupons as well as help with shelter and livelihoods.

Handicap International has worked in the Near East since 1987 around development, mine action and emergency activities. Its emergency division is currently working in Syria, Lebanon and Jordan to provide food, non-food items and cash assistance to 80,000 vulnerable persons affected by the Syrian crisis. To date, Handicap International has also identified more than 8,500 people with specific needs (disabilities, injuries, chronic diseases and ageing), channeling them to humanitarian services and providing them with specialized assistance, such as essential physical rehabilitation, prosthesis, mobility devices and psychosocial services.

Oxfam is providing aid to those affected by the crisis in Jordan, Lebanon and Syria. To date they have helped more than 250,000 people and plan to help 650,000 by the end of this year. In Lebanon and Jordan, Oxfam is providing vulnerable families with cash assistance to help them afford a place to live and improving access to safe water and sanitation. Infrastructure inside Syria has been badly damaged by the ongoing conflict and Oxfam has started work to provide emergency water and sanitation to up to 300,000 people throughout the country.

World Vision has worked in the region for more than 30 years and is responding to the needs of people fleeing the conflict, in Syria, Lebanon and Jordan. World Vision is reaching more than 220,000 people across the three countries with health services, emergency supplies, clean water, sanitation and child protection support.

Takoma Park, Maryland — Fighting in Syria has forced more than 1.6 million people to flee the country and bordering nations, including Jordan and Lebanon, each expect to host one million Syrian refugees by the end of 2013. Today, on this World Refugee Day, Handicap International is reiterating its serious concerns about the lack of resources available to adequately support these refugees. Handicap International calls on international funding bodies and the United Nations to provide the appropriate resources and coordination to meet both current and future needs.

"Imagine what this influx of a population, with all its needs, represents," says Thierry-Mehdi Benlahsen, Handicap International's Regional Emergency Response Coordinator. “Hospitals are at breaking point, there is a serious lack of accommodation, and the quite exceptional solidarity shown by the inhabitants of the host countries may well reach its limits if the international community does not provide an appropriate response to the situation.”

“In the best case scenario, the funding made available by the international community will cover the needs identified four months ago," says Benlahsen. "In the meantime, the situation has deteriorated and the NGOs do not have the resources they need to cope."

Worldwide, at the beginning of 2012, 15 million people had been forced to leave their home countries in the wake of a natural disaster or conflict. In recent statements, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has warned that this figure could reach a record high due to the crisis in Syria.

Handicap International has been working with Syrian refugees in Jordan and Lebanon since the summer of 2012 and inside Syria itself since the beginning of 2013. The organization provides rehabilitation care to people with injuries and disabilities and raises awareness about the risks of unexploded ordnance.

“Every day our staff bears witness to the incredible suffering of displaced Syrians, many of whom have devastating injuries and post-traumatic stress,” says Elizabeth MacNairn, executive director of Handicap International’s US office. “We’re calling on the international community to commit the necessary resources to care for these extremely vulnerable people and to work to end the conflict in Syria once and for all.”

About Handicap International
Co-winner of the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize, Handicap International is an independent international aid organization. It has been working in situations of poverty and exclusion, conflict and disaster for 30 years. Working alongside persons with disabilities and other vulnerable groups, our actions and testimony focus on responding to their essential needs, improving their living conditions, and promoting respect for their dignity and basic rights. Since 1982, Handicap International has set up development programs in more than 60 countries and intervenes in numerous emergency situations. The network of eight national associations (Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States) works constantly to mobilize resources, jointly manage projects and to increase the impact of the organization's principles and actions. Handicap International is one of six founding organizations of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, and winner of the 2011 Hilton Humanitarian Prize. Handicap International takes action and campaigns in places where “standing tall” is no easy task.

Contacts
Mica Bevington, Director of Marketing and Communications
Handicap International US
+1 (240) 450-3531
[email protected]

Molly Feltner, Marketing and Communications Officer
Handicap International US
+1 (240) 450-3528
[email protected]

Humanity & Inclusion started working in Lebanon in 1992 focused on Palestinian refugee camps and clusters, providing rehabilitation and mental health services and promoting the rights of people with disabilities. The team has since provided emergency assistance in the crisis situations that have rocked the country and region. Since 2011, Humanity & Inclusion has been supporting Syrian refugees and the Lebanese community affected by the war in Syria.

Areas of Intervention

• Rehabilitation and mental health
• Weapons clearance
• Inclusive education 
• Social inclusion

Humanity & Inclusion's 82-person team works in Lebanon to increase community involvement of people with disabilities and individuals living in vulnerable circumstances. This work includes physical, professional, cultural and social inclusion. As a result of the humanitarian crisis caused by conflict in Syria, Humanity & Inclusion has also rolled out emergency projects serving refugees and host communities. 

In North Lebanon and the Bekaa Valley, Humanity & Inclusion ensures that people with disabilities receive appropriate emergency care such as rehabilitation, psychosocial support and assistive devices including artificial limbs and braces.

Humanity & Inclusion also carries out clearance operations in the north of the country to remove explosive remnants left behind after the Lebanese civil war. 

In partnership with local education and protection stakeholders, Humanity & Inclusion works to improve inclusion of students with disabilities and promote inclusive humanitarian response in Lebanon. 

Background

Lebanon has been deeply affected by an economic crisis that started in late 2019, and has worsened amid the Covid-19 pandemic. More than 50% of the population currently lives under the poverty line. 

Meanwhile, the country continues to welcome 1 million refugees who have fled the 10-year war in Syria. Lebanon is also home to a large community of Palestinian refugees, mainly living in informal camps. Refugees often require emergency assistance, primarily to treat their physical and psychological injuries, but have limited access to basic services like health care and education.

As a result of several decades of intermittent conflict and despite 15 years of clearance efforts, the population continues to be affected by mines and explosive remnants of war, with some victims requiring life-long assistance to live with their injuries. 

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Takoma Park, Maryland — On the second anniversary of the Syrian uprising, Handicap International condemns the inaction of the international community, which has failed in its duty to protect civilians or to give them equal access to humanitarian aid. Handicap International has been aiding victims of the Syrian conflict for ten months. After launching a relief effort for Syrian refugees in Jordan and Lebanon, it extended activities inside Syria, where conditions are extremely harsh.

Two years after the first demonstrators hit the streets of Syria, the country is locked in a bloody civil war that has already claimed the lives of nearly 70,000 people and forced nearly 4 million others to take refuge abroad or inside Syria. This incredibly violent crisis, in which civilians have faced two years of continuous fighting, claims more and more victims. They continue to be killed by bullets or bombs, severely wounded or burned, and traumatized by the hell of their everyday lives.

Handicap International began supplying aid to Syrian refugees in Jordan and Lebanon in May 2012, before extending its operations into Syria. More than 160 Handicap International staff work in these three countries to case-manage victims. By June 2013, almost 37,000 people will have benefited from the charity’s direct assistance, while 9,000 people have learned how to spot and avoid weapons and explosive remnants of war.

Few organizations operate in the north of Syria. Handicap International is the only one providing post-surgery emergency rehabilitation care to victims, many of whom are children. It is common for our teams to provide rehabilitation care and orthopedic devices to people who have lost both legs, or an arm and a leg.

Given the extreme suffering of the Syrian people, Handicap International has already admonished representatives of the international community for their failure to apply principles of civilian protection and for their lack of action.

“It is clear that diplomatic pressure on all parties to this conflict has failed to prevent civilians from being deliberately targeted, in total disregard for international humanitarian law, and sometimes with indescribable cruelty,” says Jean-Baptiste Richardier, executive director of Handicap International.

Despite advances in obtaining authorization from the Syrian authorities to access government-controlled areas, the north of Syria remains appallingly isolated. The significance and preservation of international humanitarian law are at stake as well as the capacity of the international community to combat its own despondency.

“This conflict has unfolded behind closed doors,” Richardier adds. “Humanitarian organizations, which are ready and willing to intervene, are not being given adequate resources to supply the humanitarian assistance required to meet the immense needs of the people. As a result of this wait-and-see policy, a growing number of Syrians have had to flee their country, with one million refugees already registered in neighboring countries. There will also be dramatic and long-term consequences for everyone left without adequate care, some of whom will develop disabilities as a result. Statements on the accessibility of northern Syria for aid passing through government-controlled areas should not, however, minimize the serious deficiency of emergency relief getting through to this region. Any other conclusion would be a lie, and the international community should not be satisfied with the little progress made so far.”

Elizabeth MacNairn, executive director of Handicap International’s US office, adds that "the victims of this bloody conflict will bear the physical and psychological scars for years to come. The international community must not only respond immediately with lifesaving assistance, but also in the medium- and long-term to help the Syrian people rebuild and reclaim their lives.”

About Handicap International
Co-winner of the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize, Handicap International is an independent international aid organization. It has been working in situations of poverty and exclusion, conflict and disaster for 30 years. Working alongside persons with disabilities and other vulnerable groups, our actions and testimony focus on responding to their essential needs, improving their living conditions, and promoting respect for their dignity and basic rights. Since 1982, Handicap International has set up development programs in more than 60 countries and intervenes in numerous emergency situations. The network of eight national associations (Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States) works constantly to mobilize resources, jointly manage projects and to increase the impact of the organization's principles and actions. Handicap International is one of six founding organizations of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, and winner of the 2011 Hilton Humanitarian Prize. Handicap International takes action and campaigns in places where “standing tall” is no easy task.

Contacts
Mica Bevington, Director of Communications and Marketing
Handicap International US
+1 (240) 450-3531
[email protected]

Molly Feltner, Communications and Marketing Officer
Handicap International US
+1 (240) 450-3528
[email protected]