India and Humanitarian Disarmament Film Screening and Panel Discussion

20 Aug 2013:

Campaigners and academics are meeting to commemorate the anniversary of the Cluster Munitions Convention with a film screening and discussion. The event aims to raise awareness of the devastation caused by cluster bombs, to urge the Indian government to accede to the global cluster bomb ban and to push the government to do more to help survivors of cluster munitions and other explosive remnants of war.

In the past 12 months, India supplanted China as the world’s number one arms importer, accounting for 9% of total global arms imports. India is one of only a handful of nations that continue to import and stockpile cluster munitions. Cluster bombs are made up of hundreds of smaller munitions. Their targets are not precise, so whole areas are scattered with explosives and anyone in the target area is very likely to be killed or seriously injured. As such, cluster munitions remain on of the most inaccurate and inhumane weapons on the global market.

Unexploded submunitions remain, like landmines, a fatal threat to anyone in the area. This can leave an area highly dangerous, or even uninhabitable, long after conflict has subsided. Therefore, the use of cluster munitions has wide ranging social and economic ramifications.

On 21 August 2013, Control Arms Foundation India, Manipur Women Gun Survivors Network and Nelson Mandela Centre for Peace and Conflict Resolution, Jamia Milia Islamia University will join hundreds of others worldwide to celebrate the third anniversary of the entry into force of the Convention on Cluster Munitions. The event will be held at Tagore Hall, Dayare - Mir Taqi Mir, Near Administrative Block, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi from 2.00 pm to 4.00 pm. Film to be screened at the event: “We Made It Happen” by Werner Anderson on Cluster Munition Convention.

The event will be chaired by Prof. Tasneem Meenai, Officiating Director, Nelson Mandela Centre for Peace and Conflict Resolution, Jamia Millia Islamia. Ms Mossarat Qadeem, Executive Director, PAIMAN Alumni Trust will be the Guest of Honour of the event. Esteemed resource persons will include Wing Commander (Retd.) Praful Bakshi, Defence and Strategic Analyst, Dr Ravinder Pal Singh, Defence Analyst and Former Project Leader on Arms Procurement, SIPRI and Ms Binalakshmi Nepram, Founder, Manipur Women Gun Survivors Network and Secretary General, Control Arms Foundation of India

The event aims to raise awareness of the devastation caused by cluster bombs, to urge the Indian government to accede to the global cluster bomb ban and to push the government to do more to help survivors of cluster munitions and other explosive remnants of war. On this global day of action, members of the Cluster Munition Coalition - a global network of member organisations in more than 100 countries - will engage government and public support to tell the world ‘We can Stop Cluster Bombs’ and generate support for this lifesaving ban. Please join the event.

For more information, please contact:

Office of Control Arms Foundation of India
B 5 / 146, First Floor, Safdarjung Enclave,
New Delhi - 110 029, India
Website: www.cafi-online.org
Enail: Cafi(dot)communique(at)gmail(dot)com
sujata(dot)rk3(at)gmail(dot)com
Phone: +91-11-46018541