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World Landmine News
Lebanon mines 'continue to kill' - BBC News
Landmines and cluster munitions are continuing to kill and injure between three and four civilians in Lebanon each day, a campaign group has said.
Landmine Action is calling for an international ban on the weapons, saying they leave a "deadly legacy" in countries long after a war ends.
A third of those killed or injured by the bombs in Lebanon are children.
Cluster munitions are bombs packed with dozens of bomblets which scatter across large areas, often failing to detonate.
No specific law
The UN estimates that there may be as many as one million unexploded submunitions in South Lebanon.
"There is no current law specifically on cluster bombs," director of Landmine Action, Simon Conway, told the BBC news website.
"It is an indiscriminate weapon that serves no military objectives.
"It creates a war among peoples. If you use them against a large number of civilians then you won't achieve political objectives either."
Israel insists that the munitions it uses in conflict comply with international law and says it is being unfairly singled out while the same munitions have been used for years by Western countries.
Small harvests
Pressure group Human Rights Watch says it has found evidence that cluster bombs were also used by Hezbollah militants during the conflict.
It says the spread to such non-state actors is worrying because it could indicate that the use of the weapon is proliferating.
Although the weapon, unlike anti-personnel mines, is legal, its indiscriminate and excessive use is not.
In South Lebanon, the BBC's Kim Ghattas describes how unexploded bomblets litter the ground, hang from trees and remain half-hidden beneath the soil.
Activists say that their size and shape - often similar to a can of drink - can make them particularly attractive to children.
Landmine Action says 35% of those killed or injured in South Lebanon are under the age of 18.
It warns that the presence of the bombs across agricultural land, as well as in residential areas, is hampering a return to farming activities for many Lebanese, forcing them to abandon harvests.
Posted: Thursday, October 19, 2006
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