As states meet for Part Two of the Convention on Cluster Munitions (CCM) Second Review conference, MAG is taking a look at Lebanon's deadly legacy of war and its progress towards clearing the cluster munition contamination left behind by conflicts stretching back decades.
A series of internal and regional conflicts over 40 years — the Lebanese Civil War, Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon, the 2006 conflict and the spillover from the Syria conflict – have left extensive contamination, with differing impacts on communities and groups within Lebanese society. The 2006 conflict resulted in particularly high levels of contamination when over 1,278 locations were bombarded with approximately four million cluster munitions.
Since Lebanon ratified the CCM, it has cleared over 13.6 km2 of cluster munitions contaminated land. At the beginning of 2019, the remaining area of cluster munitions contaminated land was 11.7 km2 (Lebanon CCM Article 4 extension request). In addition to its clearance efforts, Lebanon also enables delivery of explosive ordnance risk education activities by partner organisations – a key lifesaving activity until clearance is possible. Organisations such as MAG have been engaging in innovative methods of risk education for children, including the use of clowns, puppets and virtual reality.
Lebanon also suffers from contamination with other types of devices, including conventional and improvised landmines, explosive remnants of war and improvised explosive devices.
