Flooding South Lebanon - Human Rights Watch

Various reasons exist as to why community clearance has been so pervasive. In
some ways, the sheer volume of duds has necessitated self-clearance. MACC SL’s
Chris Clark pointed out, “There’s too much out there to deal with. Locals have to take
matters into their own hands.” 280 This was particularly true directly after the ceasefire
when people returned to homes and communities inundated by submunitions, and
the Army and NGOs were unable to perform clearance.
Economic necessity has also been a major factor in self-clearance. Many people
have returned to their fields to remove clusters so that they could harvest their crops.
It is the poor that are most in need of income from crops and thus most likely to clear
duds on their own. As Habbouba Aoun noted, “Those being killed are the
disadvantaged people.” 281
Shadi Sa`id `Aoun, the 26-year-old farmer from Tair Debbe, who suffered injuries
when he decided to clear his field himself, told Human Rights Watch:
The priority is the houses, but I could not wait for the Army to come
and remove the ones from the field. It would ruin me. The orchard is
my only source of income. That’s why I had to start clearing them
myself. My brother and father are still working on collecting the
clusters. We know it is dangerous. But we need to clear the field before
the rain comes because if the rain comes, it will cover the clusters.
That’s also why we can’t irrigate before removing them. 282
Poverty has also compelled some individuals to remove submunitions as a source of
income. Human Rights Watch researchers heard reports of people being paid
anywhere between $1 and $4 per dud by locals who needed their property cleared. 283
A UNIFIL civil affairs officer had heard that Palestinian refugees, a marginalized and
economically vulnerable population in Lebanon, have also cleared submunitions,
280 Human Rights Watch interview with Chris Clark, program manager, MACC SL, Tyre, October 23, 2006.
281 Human Rights Watch interview with Habbouba Aoun, coordinator, Landmines Resource Center, Beirut, October 20, 2006.
282 Human Rights Watch interview with Shadi Sa`id `Aoun, farmer, Hammoud Hospital, Saida, September 22, 2006.
283 Human Rights Watch interview with Habbouba Aoun, coordinator, Landmines Resource Center, Beirut, October 20, 2006;
Human Rights Watch interview with Ahmed Ismael Kadre, farmer, Kfar Shufa, October 22, 2006; Anthony Shadid, “In Lebanon,
a War's Lethal Harvest; Threat of Unexploded Bombs Paralyzes the South,” Washington Post, September 26, 2006.
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Human Rights Watch February 2008