LEBANON:

Lebanon is a small country with just about four millions inhabitants and a history abundant with war and devastation. In-between 1975 and 1990 Lebanon was ravaged by a series of civil wars whose effects are still palpable within everyday life. In July 2006, during the military conflict between the Hezbollah paramilitary troops and the Israeli military known as the "July war" one million people – a third of the Lebanese population – fled from their towns and villages in the south of the country. The refugees left their homes, all of their possessions, and many beloved ones behind. One terrible legacy resulting from these conflicts is cluster bombs and land mines that continue to kill and severely injure civilians in Lebanon.

OUR PROJECT:

„Cluster munition – a constant menace to the civil population“ – Project partner: Handicap International

Of all the terrible after-effects of war cluster munitions is acknowledged to be most harmful to civil populations. Massive cluster bomb attacks over Lebanon in August 2006 left large territories littered with enough cluster munitions to injure each and every of the four millions inhabitants. Experts assume that up to 40 percent of this cluster munitions is still hidden in the soil and waiting to explode at one moment or another. This poses great danger especially to poor land workers – adults and children – for whom the hard labour on the fields is the only way to make a living. Exploding cluster munitions threatens thus the poorest of Lebanese inhabitants, and the weakest –  children that work or play in the bomb-infested areas.

In August 2006 alone – in the wake of the truce between the fighting parties – 92 people were killed or severely injured by cluster munitions. A close friend of these three boys was among them: When some land machines got rid of the rubble in the neighbourhood, a piece of explosive fell from a tree and hit them. The friend did not survive. © U. Meissner,  Handicap International

The project's two main goals: prevention and direct help

1)      A first important step is the demining of the 970 towns and villages that were hit by the bombs. Handicap International has begun to train Lebanese demining squads. At the moment there are three teams of fifteen persons active in the south of Lebanon. Each team consists of 1 technical adviser, 1 responsible coordinator, 10 demining specialists, 1 medical expert, 1 contact person and 1 driver / translator. Moreover there is ample information for the population, in order to raise awareness for the still existing dangers. The goal of the project is two-fold: One aim is to drastically reduce the number of people that are killed or injured. The other is to help the land workers to go back to work – and thus to re-establish the basic condition under which the poor can sustain themselves.

2)      If the injuries caused by cluster munitions are not treated properly, they become worse. Direct sanitary help for victims of cluster munitions is therefore indispensable for avoiding durable injuries. The mobile teams support the sick and handicapped as well as their families. This helps especially the traumatised children and adolescents to gain new hope for a better future.

We ask you to support this important task. Your help supports the Lebanon project of Handicap International.

You can find more at www.handicap-international.de/projekte/naherosten.html   

This information was provided by Handicap International.