BY ROHAN PEARCE
In its weekly situation update of July 22, the United Nations Office of the Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq revealed that the progress of its Emergency Mine Action Survey is "slower than expected".
Between June 28 and July 16, more than 1.3 million square metres of land in northern Iraq were demarcated with permanent mine marking signs. During the same period, the update revealed, 1747 UXOs (unexploded ordnance) were recovered.
However, on July 17 the United Nations Childrens Fund (UNICEF) revealed that since May 1, when US President George Bush declared that major hostilities in Iraq had ended, more than 1000 Iraqi children have been injured by weapons such as the unexploded bomblets left by US cluster bombs.
According to Carel de Rooy, UNICEF's representative in Iraq: "Cluster bombs come in interesting shapes that are attractive to children... Many children are injured or killed because they see a shiny metal object, sometimes in the shape of a ball, and they have to go and pick it up and play with it."
In April, responding to reports of the use of cluster munitions during the US invasion of Iraq, Steve Goose, executive director of the arms division of US-based group Human Rights Watch, said: "The United States should not be using these weapons... Iraqi civilians will be paying the price with their lives and limbs for many years".
According to the British-based Mine Action Group, in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk, 52 children were killed and 63 injured by UXOs in one week alone. MAG estimates that the "dud" rate of US cluster munitions — the number of "bomblets" which fail to explode on impact — is around 15%.
From Green Left Weekly, August 6, 2003.
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