Brussels, 12 February 2010 – Handicap International urges states to ratify the Convention on Cluster Munitions without delay and to honour their promises on stockpile destruction, clearance and victim assistance. Fourteen months after the Convention on Cluster Munitions was signed in Oslo, 104 states have already signed and 27 have ratified the convention, but affected states and communities are still in urgent need of assistance.

A powerful aftershock struck the already devastated nation of Haiti Wednesday morning, where tens of thousands of wounded people still have not received medical care after the 7.0-magnitude quake hit January 12. Handicap International’s team in Haiti has already recorded hundreds of completed and scheduled amputations.

Brussels, 12th August 2009. Zarema Sadoulaeva, head of the Chechen NGO “Save the Generation” and her husband and colleague Alik Dzhabrailov found shot dead on 11th August in Grozny, Chechnya were buried today. The couple had been taken by a group of armed men who arrived at the organisation’s offices introducing themselves as law enforcement officers. It is with the very deepest sadness that Handicap International’s teams learned the news of this double murder yesterday.

Brussels, 12 August 2009 - Three years after the Lebanon war and one year after the war in Georgia, cluster munition survivors from Lebanon and Georgia still lack support. Today, a group of cluster munition victims from all over the world, known as the Ban Advocates, call on all States to implement the Convention on Cluster Munitions. They also call on States that have not yet done so to sign and ratify the Convention.

(Berlin 24th June 2009) – The new international convention banning cluster bombs is already delivering results as signatories plan the destruction of these indiscriminate weapons even before it has entered into force. On 25 and 26 June delegations from more than 80 countries meet in the German capital to discuss plans for stockpile destruction.

Brussels, 4th September. Seventeen people have died in a plane crash in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Handicap International can confirm that two of its staff and a third person from a partner organisation were amongst the victims. The three victims were on their way to take part in a workshop to raise awareness of the dangers of landmines. Handicap International is deeply saddened by this tragic accident and extends its heartfelt sympathy to the families and friends of colleagues, as well as to those of the other victims.

Dublin and Brussels, 28 May 2008. The 109 States participating in the Dublin Conference on Cluster Munitions are about to adopt the treaty banning cluster munitions. The treaty will be formally adopted on Friday May 30 and signed in Oslo in December 2008. The new treaty will ban cluster munitions, organize their destruction and ensure that comprehensive assistance is provided to cluster munition victims. "This is extremely important and will make a big difference on the ground," said Stan Brabant, Head of Policy Unit of Handicap International in Brussels, "but it is just the beginning if we want to ensure that cluster munition victims receive the assistance they are entitled to."

Dublin, 26 May 2008. Four days before the adoption of a new international treaty banning cluster munitions, cluster munition survivors from around the world welcome groundbreaking progress on victim assistance. The victim assistance provisions that will be adopted include a very broad definition of “cluster munition victims,” covering affected individuals as well as their families and communities.

Brussels, 9 April 2008 - Five weeks before the conclusion of the historic Cluster Munition Treaty, Handicap International urges states to resist the growing pressure from the United States and other arms producing countries. According to information received in recent weeks, the United States is pressuring some European and African states in order to dissuade them from joining the new treaty. Simultaneously, some cluster munition producing countries try to protect their own weapons from the prohibition.

Five weeks before the Dublin Conference on Cluster Munitions where the international treaty banning cluster munitions will be finalized, the pressure on states is increasing and many questions arise. To try to respond to these questions, experts from Handicap International and Human Rights Watch will present an update on the international process to ban cluster munitions.