Handicap International

Over the years, Handicap International has become one of the reference organisations on landmine issues. Handicap International is a co-founder of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines which was awarded with the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize.

In the UK, Handicap International runs the Cluster Bombs campaign and the UKPAC have been working to support Handicap International since 2004.

The 'Forgotten 10' Action Week - a joint project with UKPAC

When?

Ten days from Tuesday 1 December - Thursday 10 December 2009 (to coincide with International Disability Day and the first anniversary of the Cluster Munitions Convention).

Why 10?

Disabled people make up 10% of any given population around the world. Of the 500 million disabled people living in developing countries, only 2% have access to basic health services, 80% are unemployed and 98% of disabled children do not go to school. Although this 10% constitutes the largest minority group in the world, they are frequently left out of international development projects.

Working exclusively with UK Soroptimists

This autumn, Handicap International UK and UKPAC have partnered once again to bring the issues of disability and development in developing countries to the general public in the UK. the 'Forgotten 10' Action Week will involve a wide range of events and activities in communities across the country to raise awareness and funds in support of millions of disabled people in developing countries.

Handicap International has developed a range of tools, specifically for Soroptimist Clubs and available free of charge to each club, and these can even be customised if needed at no cost! Tremendous thought has gone into the production of these tools, which have been produced exclusively for us.

Tool 1 is a range of 42 photographs (or a smaller exhibition can be provided if required) which can be used by clubs to stage photographic exhibitions in their area (postage and copies of the professionally-produced exhibition are provided at no cost to clubs). These could be held in county halls, libraries, schools, etc. It is a splendid way of raising funds and also raising awareness of Soroptimism.
Tool 2 is a DVD shot in Rwanda last year - again this can be used to raise funds and awareness. Show the DVD in churches, libraries etc. Get the local media to write an article on inclusive education. It could be shown in conjunction with the photographic exhibitions of Tools 1 or 4.
Tool 3 is a range of educational tools aimed at children - both primary and secondary school age. These include a DVD-ROM, fun widgets and video games to bring to the attention of children the difficult living conditions experienced by disabled people. Club members could contact teachers and schools to provide and encourage them to use the DVD etc.
Tool 4 is another photographic exhibition with a different range of images.
Tool 5 is the Pyramid of Shoes, organised by Handicap International.
Tool 6 is a Challenge - Handicap International have challenged us, as clubs or as individuals, to 10 challenges for Action Week.

There are so many ways that clubs could get involved with this project; all the leg work has already been done by Handicap International and they have even produced a 17-page brochure and a PowerPoint presentation (click Read Only when prompted) to give you all more ideas. They are encouraging every club that wishes to get involved to contact them so that they can help with planning to ensure that the event is a big success.

Enquiries should be directed to Tom Shelton at Handicap International UK.
email: tom.shelton@hi-uk.org
tel: 0870 774 3737

Kay Richmond

Kay Richmond is the UKPAC's representative for Handicap International UK. She also represents us at Landmine Action and the Cluster Munitions Coalition UK.

Kay has produced a report of her recent EU-funded workshop in Rabat in Morocco. Members can download a pdf of this illustrated report at this link.

Cluster Munitions Petition

Representatives from Landmine Action, Handicap International and No More Landmines met with Foreign Secretary David Miliband to hand over more than 30,000 signatures that have been collected in the UK, calling for a ban on the use, production, stockpiling and transfer of cluster bombs. Joining these organisations were Lord Elton, Lord Hannay and Lord Ramsbotham.

The Foreign Secretary spoke with the group for nearly fifteen minutes and said the UK government is committed to the Oslo Process and the CCW (UN Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons).

All three Peers urged the Foreign Secretary that the UK should attend the Dublin Diplomatic Conference in May [to be attended by 100 countries, although the biggest military powers, including the US, Russia, China, Pakistan and India, are not taking part] and support the negotiation of the strongest possible treaty and not try to weaken it by calling for exemptions to the definition for the types of cluster munitions that the UK stockpiles.

Simon Conway, from Landmine Action [who spoke at the Soroptimist International Convention in Glasgow last July] developed this point, particularly focusing on the M73 bomb. [Britain wants the term 'cluster bomb' to be defined as a device with ten or more 'bomblets', which would allow it to continue using the M73 bomb, which has only nine. Britain also argues for exemption of the M85 because of its 'self-deactivation device”. Such 'smart cluster bombs' are claimed to have a failure rate of 1%, but when used by Israel in Lebanon in 2006, up to 10% failed to explode or deactivate.] Simon Conway said that if the UK fought for exclusions to the definition based on them being able to keep the M73 it would create huge loopholes in the treaty that would allow other countries to continue to produce and use this type of weapon (which will continue to allow large numbers of submunitions to be deployed over an area). He made the point that the UK has never used this weapon in combat and does not contain vast quantities of them in stockpile.

Overall, everybody involved felt the meeting was quite positive even though no guarantees were given.

Pictured right is Vong, a 13-year-old boy from Cambodia - who now has an artificial leg thanks to Handicap International. For a boy who loved to play football before his accident, his new-found mobility has given him back his life.

A cluster bomb

The Pyramid of Shoes in Hyde Park last year

In co-operation with Handicap International, clubs and regions have raised awareness of the Cluster bomb Campaign by organising events; these have included building ‘Pyramids of Shoes’ during Landmine Awareness Week each November and collecting thousands of signatures for their petitions. We continue to support their campaign.