Handicap International has appealed to the EU to strengthen its support for communities that are victims of landmines and cluster munitions and urges all European states to agree to ban these indiscriminate weapons. In its report ⁽¹⁾ based on survivors’ accounts and presented on 12 February in Brussels, it notes that 14 months after its adoption in Oslo, 104 states have already signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions and that 27 others have ratified it. The association asks the states that have not yet done so to ratify it without delay and to respect their promises to destroy stocks, clear landmines and provide assistance to victims.

Three more states need to ratify the convention to allow it to enter into force six months later. In Europe, Denmark and Moldova are on the verge of ratification. Bulgaria, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Italy, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Portugal, UK and Sweden have not finalised their ratification process, while Estonia, Finland, Greece, Latvia, Poland, Romania and Slovakia have not signed as yet. Handicap International calls on the government of Belgium – the first country in the world to ban mines and clusters munitions and trade in these weapons – to mobilise more European countries to sign, ratify and implement the convention.

On assistance to victims, the report shows that most governments worldwide are not living up to their promises to support and reintegrate survivors of landmines and cluster munitions into society.