Date: 30 November 2007
Locations: Geneva, Iraq, Chechnya, Lebanon
Length: 13'32"
Source: ICRC – access all
Sound: English, Kurdish, French, Chechen, Russian

Preview (RealMedia stream 56Kbs - 128kbs):
TV-news-1_OTAWA_07

and

Preview (RealMedia stream 56Kbs - 128kbs):
TV-news-2_OTAWA_07

This report will be distributed free-to-air and rights free on Friday 30 November 2007 over the Eurovision news exchange as well as the Associated Press Television News, Global Video Wire, at 12.15 GMT and at 19:05 with a special transmission for non APTN subscribers on Intelsat 805

1905-1920 GMT Intelsat 805 coordinates:

Txp 11/11 Ch2 @55.5W 6MHz
Uplink Freq: 5983.875 MHz X
Downlink Freq: 3758.875 MHz Y
Sym Rate 4.167 Msym/s
FEC 5/6 .
For broadcast tapes and information on footage: Virginie Louis, International Committee of the Red Cross, Geneva,

SHOTLIST

IRAQ (Sept. 07)

1 NORTH IRAQ –Mine fields on road to Shekhan Dohuk showing exploded car, potholes and warning signs
2 ICRC ORTHOPAEDIC CENTRE, ERBIL - Hoger Khaled Suleiman, mine victim, arrives at centre, is examined by staff
3 Workshop with work bench making artificial limbs, showing Najia Mohammed, a technician and disabled in landmine accident, at work
4 Interview Najia Mohammed (Kurdish)

"I lost my right leg in 1991, during the uprising in Kurdistan and the incident happened in Traman, a northern town in Erbil governorate, while I was going to the border.
"I was walking on the road and I didn't notice that there was a landmine laid by the previous Iraqi government during the war with Iran, and I stepped on it and I lost my leg.
"Actually when I came here to be treated, I saw that ICRC was giving help to landmine victims and other disabled people, and since I am disabled myself, from the humanitarian point of view I thought I would be a good person to work here, and to help alleviate the suffering of other disabled people."
"I like my job very much and I am very happy here."

5 ERBIL - Hoger Khaled Suleiman in streets of Erbil walking with his artificial leg
6 Hoger Khaled Suleiman, mine victim, Interview

"The worst part of it was not being able to walk. The fact that I can walk again, even though I have lost my leg is great . You feel like you can really be a normal human being again and this has made me extremely happy. "

7 Hoger with his family- several shots - Hoger removes artificial leg

GENEVA (29 Nov. 07)

8 Interview (English),Peter Herby, Head of the Arms Unit, ICRC

"One of the most important things is that its made a difference on the ground and many mine affected countries we seen a reduction of two thirds or more in the number of casualties people being killed or injured. but its also resulted in the destruction of 42 million anti personnel landmines , 156 states are party to this treaty, more than 80% of states in the world. its in our view one of the most successful arms related treaties in recent times."

"Where we still haven't seen the accession to the Treaty by some of the major powers, the United States, Russia, China Pakistan, India, although it has affected their policies and their practice. the U.S. hasn’t used landmines since 1991 in any conflict they've been involved in none of these countries are transferring mines any more, but still until they join, this gives the message that’s its OK to use anti personnel landmines and in some sense legitimizes it for others."

CHECHNYA (Sept. 07)

9 Chechnya , referee whistling. Various of football team playing. Magommed Bukhayev (20 year old mine amputee) plays the ball
10 Interview coach, Girzishev Ruslan Hindievich (Russian)

"Now they don't feel invalids, they feel like real sportsman, and that's why I treat them like real sportsman, not like invalids and this is why we have achieved the results that we have". (Won European Championships and Russian cup for disabled teams)

11 Football game various, Adlan watching
12 In the changing room, Magommed walking out with Adlan
13 Ruins of old buildings and industrial sites
14 Magommed arrives home, greets his mother and enters his room
15 Magommed plays car race computer game
16 Interview, Magommed's mother (Russian)

"They have a lot of fun as friends, they take part in competitions, they really like being able to play football with the team. they are a very good team and they look after him well. I am very pleased with the coaches. "

17 Mother hanging out washing
18 Interview
Magommed Bukhayev (Chechen)
"Together with my friend, we were looking for his cattle along the road near the forest.

We were not the first one to take that road; they were people taking this road to bring their cattle. I suddenly felt as if there was a punch coming from behind and I haven't heard any explosion. It was a gravel road and those little stones stuck with blood into my face and I couldn't open my eyes. I stood up and I tried to walk further. When I fell on the ground, I realised that something happened to me" (45'').

"Generally I don't have great difficulties. It just breaks my heart (My heart is torn apart) when someone passes by talking about me and feeling sorry for me".

19 Magommed arrives at the orthopaedic centre and shakes Hmayak Tarakhchyan's hand , ICRC physiotherapist working in state run ortho centre
20 Hmayak Tarakhchyan examines Magommed
21 Interview, Hmayak Tarakhchyan, ICRC Physiotherapist

"Magommed needs a new prosthesis because the old one which was made a year ago, the soquet doesn't fit any more properly. He is young; he is quite an energetic sportive person doing lots of physical activities so the stomp volume and the shape have changed" (20'').

22 Grozny, orthopaedic centre activity

GENEVA (29 Nov. 07)

23 Interview (English),Peter Herby, Head of the Arms Unit, ICRC

"We also have a challenge in ensuring the mines in the ground are cleared within their deadlines. There are 26 countries with deadlines coming up in the next two years, and certainly many of them will need an extension So the resources for clearance are still not up to the task. There's far more that needs to be done, and until its done, people are going to be killed and injured by mines because clearance isn’t happening fast enough.

SOUTH LEBANON (Jul. 07)

24 Ruined town of Sidequine, south Lebanon, showing damage caused by Israeli bombings in summer 2006
Reconstruction, with diggers etc
CU cluster bombs, and other ERW, showing container bomb and sub-munitions
25 Interview , Cyprien Fabre, (French)
ECHO (European Commission Humanitarian Aid)

«Tous les efforts de reconstruction, les efforts de retour à la normalité, sont empêché par la problème de sous munitions. Tout le sud de Liban à été tapissé de sous munitions. On estime qu’il y a eu un million qui ne sont pas explosé et les gens peuvent pas aller aux champs, le retour dans la maison est compliqué. »
Translation: All the reconstruction work, the return to normality, is held back by the sub munition problem. The whole of southern Lebanon has been littered with sub munitions. It’s estimated that a million of them remain unexploded, so that people cannot work their fields and going back home is more difficult.

26.. deminers at work - FSD (Swiss Foundation for Mine Action)
27. Blowing up collection of sub munitions in safe explosion

GENEVA (29 Nov. 07)

28 Interview (English), Peter Herby , Head of the Arms Unit, ICRC

"Cluster munitions have created a huge humanitarian problem whenever they've been used on a large scale, whether in Iraq , Afghanistan or more recently in Lebanon. The ICRC has been intervening on this for 3 decades and we're now calling for a new international Treaty which will completely prohibit all inaccurate and unreliable cluster munitions which is a very large part of the existing stockpiles, and they are inaccurate and unreliable in part because they are so old. Most of them were made during the cold War, they are aging and they will continue killing and injuring after conflicts until this problem is dealt with.

There are 80 countries which are ready to begin negotiating such a treaty and even the major powers have admitted there is problem which has to be addressed, and they are beginning slowly to take action on that."

STORY

GENEVA (ICRC) – Much progress has been made in the past decade towards eradicating anti-personnel mines worldwide. 156 States are now Parties to the Ottawa convention banning anti-personnel mines. Yet 39 States have still not joined the Convention. On its tenth anniversary, celebrated on 3 December 2007, the ICRC calls on all remaining states to accede to the Treaty. Even if many of the states remaining outside the treaty have modified their policies and practices in the light of the Convention, says the ICRC's Peter Herby, "until they join, this gives the message that’s its OK to use anti personnel landmines and in some sense legitimizes it for others."

The importance of the Ottawa Convention cannot be underestimated. "It is in our view one of the most successful arms related treaties in recent times"" says Peter Herby, "in many mine affected countries we've seen a reduction of two thirds or more in the number of casualties, people being killed or injured. It has also resulted in the destruction of 42 million anti-personnel landmines."

However, the need for more action remains, says Mr Herby. "The resources for clearance are still not up to the task. There's far more that needs to be done, and until its done, people are going to be killed and injured by mines because clearance isn’t happening fast enough."

Assisting the injured

Working with National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies throughout the world, the ICRC helps to reduce the suffering caused by mines and ERW by providing or supporting first aid, medical and surgical assistance for victims. It also supports 85 physical rehabilitation projects in 26 countries including 18 projects in the Middle East.

At the ICRC Orthopaedic Centre in Erbil, northern Iraq, we meet 23 -year old mine victim, Hoger Khaled Suleiman, who lost his leg in a mine explosion in 1996 on the main road into Kirkuk. Having been fitted with a prosthesis at the Erbil Centre, he can now move around and holds down a job. Being able to walk again has made a huge difference, "You feel like you can really be a normal human being again." he says

Twenty year old Magommed Bukhayev lost his leg in a landmine accident while he was herding the family cows along a country road in Chechnya. Like many disabled people in the region he has no job and few prospects of work or training. His one lifeline is that he now plays in the Grozny Disabled Football team, which won the European Disabled Championships. This experience has helped him to regain his self esteem: "It just breaks my heart when someone passes by talking about me and feeling sorry for me," he says.

Cluster Munitions

Landmines are not the only weapons that keep on killing after conflicts. Cluster bombs are of particular humanitarian concern due both to their devastating area-wide impact when used in populated areas and the high number of sub munitions that fail to explode. They have had serious humanitarian consequences in almost all the conflicts in which they have been used. In the wake of the Lebanon-Israel conflict that ended in August 2006, around a million unexploded sub munitions slowed down reconstruction efforts.

The ICRC has called on States to take immediate action to address the cluster bomb problem, including ending the use of inaccurate and unreliable cluster munitions, destroying stocks of such munitions and not transferring them to other countries. It has proposed that a new international humanitarian law agreement be developed to specifically regulate these weapons.