12 days since land, air and seaports in Yemen were closed, aid agencies are appalled by the complacency and indifference of the international community regarding the historic humanitarian disaster now unfolding. 

Aid agencies are gravely concerned about a new outbreak of cholera and other water borne diseases. UNICEF warns that they only have 15 days’ left of diphtheria vaccines. They are due to receive a new shipment late November but still have not received clearance. If this vaccine is not brought in, one million children will be at risk of preventable diseases. 

Eighteen humanitarian agencies expressed serious concern today over the Saudi Arabia-led Coalition’s decision to temporarily close all entry points to Yemen, effectively sealing the country off. The agencies demand that humanitarian operations are allowed to resume immediately and request clarity on the planned duration of the current closure and contingencies to allow humanitarian supplies to be delivered. 

August 31, 2017--The newest annual report on cluster munitions reveals a sharp rise in the number of new casualties of cluster munitions, which more than doubled between 2015 and 2016. Cluster Munition Monitor 2017, co-produced by Handicap International, officially records 971 casualties of cluster munitions in 2016 compared to 419 in 2015. Handicap International calls on States to comply with international law, and to pressure belligerent parties to end the use of this barbaric weapon.

The report finds that 98% of victims of cluster munitions were civilians in 2016, and 41% were children. The conflicts in Syria and Yemen are among the most hazardous in the world for civilians, according to the Monitor.

“In Syria, the use of these weapons shows that the belligerents have a total disregard for civilian lives, and in some cases a deliberate intention to target them,” says Jeff Meer, executive director of Handicap International in the U.S. “Those who survive contact with cluster munition explosions often become amputees, with significant social, economic and psychological consequences for them, their families and their communities.”

Cluster munition usage has been on the rise in Syria since mid-2012. The Syrian conflict alone accounted for 89% of the world’s cluster munition casualties in 2016, that is, 860 victims out of 971. There were 51 new casualties in Laos and 38 in Yemen.

Whereas the vast majority of new casualties were injured or killed in cluster munition attacks, there were 114 casualties of sub-munition remnants in 2016. Because up to 40% of these weapons do not explode on impact, sub-munitions become as dangerous as anti-personnel mines and make entire areas uninhabitable after conflict. Half of accidents reported in 2016 were in Laos, the country most heavily polluted by sub-munitions in the world.

A total of six States and one territory were affected by the use of cluster munitions since January 2015. In addition to Syria and Yemen, the use of cluster munitions was once again reported in the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, the subject of a dispute between Armenia and Azerbaijan, and in Somalia in 2016, and Ukraine, Sudan and Libya in early 2015. According to reliable but unconfirmed reports, cluster munitions appear to have been used in Libya and Iraq in 2016 and early 2017.

Handicap International is alarmed by the widespread and uncontrolled use of these banned weapons. “War has rules and the Oslo Convention is part of that,” Meer says. “Every effort must be made to ensure it is enforced and to end the use of this barbaric weapon in conflict situations. States must ratify, defend, and apply the Oslo Convention, and the Ottawa Mine Ban Convention, and other provisions under International Humanitarian Law.”

Around the world, 26 States and three territories remain contaminated by cluster munition remnants. In 2016, nearly 34 sq. miles of land was cleared and 140,000 sub-munitions were made safe and destroyed. In addition to clearing mines, cluster munitions, and explosive remnants of war, Handicap International calls on States to support risk education and victim assistance programs that are also essential for continuing this vital work.

Handicap International calls on belligerent parties - States and non-State armed groups - to immediately end the use of cluster munitions. Handicap International also calls on States to pressure their allies using cluster munitions to end this practice. Lastly, Handicap International calls on all States to enforce the Convention on Cluster Munitions by immediately ending the sale or transfer of these weapons.

The Cluster Munition Monitor 2017 reviews every country in the world, including those not party to the Convention with respect to the Convention on Cluster Munitions, which bans the use, production, trade, and stockpiling of cluster munitions, during the period from January 2016 to July 2017.

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Notes

• Experts available for comment in Washington, DC, and Europe.
• Handicap International advocates will attend the Meeting of States Parties to the Convention on Cluster Munitions in Geneva, Switzerland from September 4–6, 2017, and are available for comment throughout the conference. 
  

More information

Cluster bombs are weapons containing several hundred mini-bombs called cluster munitions. Designed to be scattered over large areas, they inevitably fall in civilian areas. Up to 30% (or even 40%) do not explode on impact. Like anti-personnel mines, they can be triggered at the slightest contact, killing and maiming people during and after conflicts. By indiscriminately affecting civilian and military targets, cluster munitions violate international humanitarian law.

The Convention on Cluster Munitions banning the use, production, transfer, stockpiling and sale of cluster munitions was opened for signature in December 2008. There are currently 119 State signatories to the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

About Handicap International

Handicap International is an independent international aid organization, taking action and campaigning in places where “living in dignity” is no easy task.. It has been working in situations of poverty and exclusion, conflict and disaster for 35 years. Working alongside persons with disabilities and other vulnerable groups, our action and testimony are focused on responding to their essential needs, improving their living conditions, and promoting respect for their dignity and basic rights. Since its founding in 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 (ICBL), the co-winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1997 and the winner of the 2011 Conrad N. Hilton Humanitarian Prize, the world’s largest prize for humanitarians.

Ninety-eight percent of recorded victims of cluster munitions are civilians, according to the Cluster Munition Monitor 2017, an annual report co-produced by Handicap International. These weapons kill, injure, maim, and cause serious psychological trauma. Up to 40% of submunitions do not explode on impact. They render whole areas uninhabitable, prevent the return of normal social and economic life, and displace people from their homes. These explosive remnants pose a threat to civilians, sometimes for decades after a conflict has ended.

A severe food crisis is advancing across East Africa, Nigeria, and Yemen, with more than 20 million people at risk. Xavier Duvauchelle, Handicap International’s desk officer for the East Africa region, explains the scale of the disaster and how our teams on the ground are responding.

The worldwide use of banned explosive weapons such as landmines and explosive remnants of war (ERW) increased significantly in 2015, largely due to intensive and systematic bombing of populated areas in recent conflicts in Iraq, Syria, Yemen, and Ukraine. To mark the international day of landmine and cluster munition awareness, April 4, Handicap International is calling on the international community to strongly condemn this practice, and for an immediate end to the use of these weapons.

According to the latest Landmine Monitor Monitor report, published in November 2016, there was a sharp rise–70%–in the number of new causalities of mines and ERW. In 2015, these weapons killed or injured at least 6,461 people. This time last year, 79% of people killed and injured in such attacks were civilians. As of today, 90% are civilians. 

90% OF VICTIMS ARE CIVILIANS

The Landmine Monitor reported 1,331 casualties of improvised mines, the highest number since the publication of their first annual report in 2000. Handicap International, founder of an international campaign to stop the bombing of civilians is once again calling on States and non-State armed groups to immediately end the use of anti-personnel mines and cluster munitions, their sale and transfer, to strongly condemn their use under any circumstances and, when they are party to a conflict, to apply pressure on their allies not to use these weapons.

The Syrian conflict has been particularly marked by the heavy and repeated use of explosive weapons. International NGO Safety Organization (INSO) reports there were 8,656 attacks using explosive weapons in Syria between Sept. 26 and Dec. 28, 2016, accounting for 72% of reported attacks—an average of 94 bombing or shelling incidents a day.

“In Iraq and Syria, the contamination has reached an unprecedented level, which will require years of mine clearance,” explains Thomas Hugonnier, head of Handicap International’s operations in Iraq. “It also makes risk education sessions vital to teach people to respond in the right way when they come across an explosive device and to avoid the risk of accidents.”

Bombing and shelling in Iraq, Syria, Ukraine, and other conflict zones leave behind ERW that contaminate large area of land long after a conflict is over. “Bombing and shelling not only has a devastating impact during an attack, they also leave behind large quantities of explosive remnants of war, since a significant proportion of weapons do not explode on impact,” explains Anne Héry, director of advocacy at Handicap International. 

When neighborhoods or villages are covered in ERW, it makes it difficult for society and the economy to return to normal. “These explosive remnants continue to put civilian lives at risk long after the fighting is over," Anne continues. "They pose exactly the same threat as anti-personnel mines." 

According to a mine action rapid assessment published in November 2016 by the United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) on the level of contamination in Syria, more than 3.6 million Syrians live in areas contaminated by explosive remnants of war and improvised devices. Nearly 1.5 million people live in areas where incidents related to explosive devices have been reported and unexploded devices have been reported in 20% of the territory. 

Handicap International is calling on States and non-State armed groups to immediately end the use of anti-personnel mines and cluster munitions, their sale and transfer, to strongly condemn their use under any circumstances and, when they are party to a conflict, to apply pressure on their allies not to use these weapons.

NOTES

• As a member of the INEW (International Network on Explosive Weapons) coalition, Handicap International has drawn up a political declaration on ending the use of explosive weapons in populated areas. It is calling on States to sign it and support it.  
• Handicap International launched a global campaign on March 15, to collect one million signatures to “stop bombing civilians.” The signatures will be presented to policy makers in September 2018, urging the international community to strongly condemn this practice and to bring it to an end.
• Click here to download Handicap International’s latest crisis situation report.

EXPERTS AVAILABLE IN JORDAN, LEBANON, FRANCE

ABOUT HANDICAP INTERNATIONAL

Handicap International is an independent international aid organization. It has been working in situations of poverty and exclusion, conflict and disaster for 35 years. Working alongside persons with disabilities and other vulnerable groups, our action and testimony are focused on responding to their essential needs, improving their living conditions, and promoting respect for their dignity and basic rights. Since its founding, 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 (ICBL), the co-winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1997, and the winner of the Conrad N. Hilton Humanitarian Prize in 2011. Handicap International takes action and campaigns in places where “living in dignity” is no easy task.

Twenty million people in Yemen, South Sudan, Somalia, and northeastern Nigeria have been grappling with a serious food crisis since 2016. Several East African countries have been hit by drought in recent months, including Somalia, Kenya, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Uganda, South Sudan and, to a lesser extent, Tanzania. In some countries, conflicts have caused severe food shortages. Handicap International is preparing to deal with one of the worst humanitarian crises since the Second World War.

Emergency in Yemen

The humanitarian situation in Yemen, one of the Arab world's poorest countries, is alarming. Humanity & Inclusion is on the ground helping victims and ensuring that vital aid reaches the people who need it most.

Help Yemenis with disabilities today!

Humanity & Inclusion in Yemen 

Humanity & Inclusion has 127 staff members working in Yemen to support people with disabilities, as well as those injured in the regional conflict that started in March 2015. The organization also supports NGOs to better include people with disabilities in emergency response.

Following its reunification in 1991, Yemen has been subject to chronic political instability and a catastrophic economic situation. Since 2011, the country has experienced a new spiral of violence which has culminated in a civil war opposing diverse political factions. This conflict has become particularly violent following March 2015 and the military intervention of a coalition of Arab countries in the country. The war has since taken root, becoming one of the worst crises on the world with at least 100,000 people who have been killed, and leaving Yemen heavily contaminated by improvised explosive devices and mines. 

Essential infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed by bombing raids, and more than half of the country's health facilities are no longer operational. 

More than 20 million people require humanitarian aid. Among them, 16 million Yemenis are food insecure and and over 4 million are displaced due to the violence. Humanitarian organizations continue to experience challenges working in the country. 

Read our May 2022 case study on the protection of persons with disabilities in armed conflict in Yemen.

Read our June 2020 report on the legacy of explosive weapons in Yemen and how these indiscriminate weapons damage infrastructure & impact civilian lives for decades to come.

Read the latest facts and figures report from Yemen (January 2020)

Areas of Intervention

• Relief for victims of conflict
• Orthopedic fitting and rehabilitation
• Inclusive emergency response 
• Explosive weapons risk education

Since its return to Yemen in 2014, Humanity & Inclusion has been implementing actions to mitigate the impact of the crisis affecting the whole country, focusing on injured people and people with disabilities, and meeting the most urgent needs as close as possible to frontlines. 

The organization currently works in hospitals and rehabilitation centers in Sana’a, Hajjah, Aden Lajih, and Taizz governorates. Teams provide physical rehabilitation, mobility devices and psychosocial support to the people injured or left with permanent disabilities by the conflict. Humanity & Inclusion also delivers training and awareness-raising sessions to the physical therapists and other medical staff working on rehabilitation care and the treatment of war injuries.  

Humanity & Inclusion also supports other humanitarian organizations working in Yemen to ensure that people with disabilities, isolated people, women, aging individuals and children are included within the humanitarian interventions.

Humanity & Inclusion also raises the awareness relating to the presence of explosive devices and mines, teaching people how to spot, avoid and report these dangerous weapons.  

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The newest, annual report on cluster munitions reveals the intense and repeated use of cluster munitions in Syria and Yemen. Cluster Munition Monitor 2016, co-produced by Handicap International, officially records 76 attacks in Syria since September 2015, and 19 in Yemen since March 2015. Handicap International calls on States to comply with international law, and pressure belligerent parties to end the use of this barbaric weapon.

The report finds that 97% of victims of cluster munitions were civilians in 2015, and 36% were children. The conflicts in Yemen and Syria are among the most hazardous in the world for civilians, who make up the majority of new victims of cluster munitions recorded in 2015, according to the Monitor.

“We must never tolerate brutality," says Marion Libertucci, deputy director of Handicap International's advocacy unit. “The repeated use of cluster munitions in Syria and Yemen reveals a total disregard for civilian lives and, in certain cases, a deliberate attempt to target them. Cluster munitions kill and maim during an attack. They also leave explosive remnants behind that function like anti-personnel mines and can cause casualties long after a conflict has ended. Every effort must be made to ensure the Convention on Cluster Munitions is enforced and to end the use of this barbaric weapon in conflict situations.”

Cluster munition usage has been on the rise in Syria, which was already badly affected by these weapons, with ten of the country’s 14 governorates hit by 360 attacks using cluster munitions since July 2012. This figure is probably lower than actual use. There are near daily reports of new cluster munition attacks in Syria, according to the Monitor’s researchers.

In Yemen, since the Saudi-led coalition against Ansar Allah (The Houthis) began military operations on March 25, 2015, cluster munitions have been used in at least 19 attacks between April 2015 and February 2016. As in Syria, a large number of the attacks in Yemen were in populated areas, such as markets, schools, and hospitals. This use led the United States to suspend their sales of cluster munitions to Saudi Arabia last May.

A total of five States and one territory were affected by the use of cluster munitions between January 2015 and July 2016: in addition to Syria and Yemen, the use of cluster munitions was once again reported in Ukraine, Sudan, and Libya, in early 2015. According to reliable, but as yet unconfirmed reports, cluster munitions also appear to have been used in Nagorno-Karabakh, a disputed territory between Armenia and Azerbaijan, in April 2016.

Handicap International is alarmed by the widespread and uncontrolled use of these banned weapons. “War does not mean everything is justified,” Libertucci says. “Not everything is allowed. International law exists and the Convention on Cluster Munitions is part of that. It must be enforced. The Convention on Cluster Munitions, the Mine Ban Convention and the Geneva conventions protect us from barbarism. All States have a responsibility to ensure these rules are upheld and enforced.”

Around the world, 24 States and three territories remain contaminated by cluster munition remnants. The renewed use of cluster munitions in Sudan and Ukraine, up through early 2015, and currently in Syria and Yemen, has increased contamination, endangering the lives of thousands of people for years to come. Handicap International is calling on States to support risk education, weapons clearance, and victim assistance programs that are essential for these countries and territories.

Handicap International calls on belligerent parties - States and non-State armed groups - to immediately end the use of cluster munitions. Handicap International also calls on States to pressure their allies using cluster munitions to end this practice. Lastly, Handicap International calls on all States to enforce the Convention on Cluster Munitions by immediately ending the sale or transfer of these weapons.

The Cluster Munition Monitor 2016 reviews every country in the world with respect to the Convention on Cluster Munitions, which bans the use, production, trade, and stockpiling of cluster munitions, during the period from January 2015 to July 2016.

#

Notes

• Experts available for comment in Washington, DC, and Europe.
• Handicap International advocates will attend the Meeting of States Parties to the Convention on Cluster Munitions in Geneva, Switzerland from September 5– 7, 2016, and are available for comment throughout the conference.
  

More information

Cluster bombs are weapons containing several hundred mini-bombs called cluster munitions. Designed to be scattered over large areas, they inevitably fall in civilian areas. Up to 30% (or even 40%) do not explode on impact. Like anti-personnel mines, they can be triggered at the slightest contact, killing and maiming people during and after conflicts. By indiscriminately affecting civilian and military targets, cluster munitions violate international humanitarian law.

The Convention on Cluster Munitions banning the use, production, transfer, stockpiling and sale of cluster munitions was opened for signature in December 2008. There are currently 119 State signatories to the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

About Handicap International

Handicap International is an independent international aid organization. It has been working in situations of poverty and exclusion, conflict and disaster for 34 years. Working alongside persons with disabilities and other vulnerable groups, our action and testimony are focused on responding to their essential needs, improving their living conditions, and promoting respect for their dignity and basic rights. Since its founding in 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 (ICBL), the co-winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1997 and the winner of the Conrad N. Hilton Humanitarian Prize, the world’s largest prize for humanitarians, in 2011. Handicap International takes action and campaigns in places where “living in dignity” is no easy task.