Flooding South Lebanon - Human Rights Watch

exploded, and a young woman was picking tobacco when a submunition blew off
two of her fingers. 169
The risk of injury from agricultural activities was especially acute since the demining
organizations focused initial efforts on more heavily populated areas. 170 Frederic Gras
of Mines Advisory Group (MAG) said that his organization primarily focused its
efforts on where people were living, not where they worked. 171 At the time of Human
Rights Watch’s October 2006 visit, demining organizations were concerned about
increasing dangers in rural areas once the autumn rains start to fall, softening the
ground so that submunitions sink and become buried landmines. “We knew the
problem would get more complicated because submunitions would get covered by
mud,” said an official with the National Demining Office. 172 Civilians have a difficult
time seeing—and thus avoiding—a submunition covered in mud. As of July 2007,
deminers were still dealing with the effects of the rains, which had buried some
submunitions and covered others with fresh vegetation. 173
Moving through the Town
Civilians have suffered many injuries from submunition duds while merely walking or
even sitting in their village. `Ali Haraz was injured in Majdel Selm at about 12 p.m. the
day after the ceasefire. He began walking down the main road of his hometown—which
“looked like a city of ghosts”—and, while carefully focusing on avoiding a submunition
he saw on the road, accidentally stepped on another dud with a ribbon and a green
cylinder. 174 It immediately exploded. He showed Human Rights Watch shrapnel scars
across his chest, legs, and arms; he still had shrapnel in his left middle finger. He
spent four days in the Jabal Amel Hospital in Tyre. The US$1,500 the government gave
169 Human Rights Watch interview with Dr. `Ali Hajj `Ali , director of the Najdeh Sha`biyyah Hospital, Nabatiyah, August 30,
2006.
170 Human Rights Watch interview with officer (name withheld), Mine Victims Assistance and Mine Risk Education section,
National Demining Office, Beirut, October 20, 2006.
171 Human Rights Watch interview with Frederic Gras, technical field manager, Mines Advisory Group, Yohmor, October 26,
2006.
172 Human Rights Watch interview with officer (name withheld), Mine Victims Assistance and Mine Risk Education section,
National Demining Office, Beirut, October 20, 2006.
173 Email communication from Julia Goehsing, program officer, MACC SL, to Human Rights Watch, May 14, 2007; email
communication from Julia Goehsing, program officer, MACC SL, to Human Rights Watch, July 20, 2007.
174 Human Rights Watch interview with `Ali Haraz, car mechanic, Majdel Selm, October 26, 2006.
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Human Rights Watch February 2008