- Making it Work (MIW) is a global multi-stakeholder initiative supporting the effective implementation of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD).
- Source is an international information support center designed to strengthen the management, use and impact of information on health and disability.
- The U.S. Campaign to Ban Landmines and Cluster Bombs, currently coordinated by Handicap International, is a coalition of thousands of people and U.S. non-governmental organizations working to convince the U.S. government to join the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty and the 2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions.
Our fight against landmines and cluster bombs
Why sign a petition?
Signing a petition is a way of officially declaring your support for a cause and your faith in the individual, organization or entity organizing the petition. For Handicap International, the petition emphasizes the importance of our lobbying and questioning of the French authorities and foreign governments. Handicap International is strengthened by this galvanizing of public support and such a petition reinforces the credibility of our message.
How is the petition used by Handicap International?
The anti-landmines petition
The first petition against landmines was launched in 1992. At this time Handicap International denounced the barbarity of these weapons and called upon the international community to urgently reinforce international law to restrict their production, sale and use. Over the years and up until 2003, in line with the latest developments and the changes in international law, the petition began to call for a total mine ban and for the Treaty to be made universal. Finally the petition dealt in a thematic way with respecting victims' rights and the urgent need to fund mine-clearance. In 2004 a new petition was launched targeting the organization's donors via its website; it was directly addressed to the Presidents of China, the United States of America and Russia, calling for their accession to the Mine Ban Treaty. To date more than 1,200,000 people have signed these petitions in France.
The names of the signatories have been officially compiled on three occasions. The first, in September 1995, contained 180,000 signatures and was prefaced by an open letter to Jacques Chirac asking him to clearly state France's rejection of antipersonnel landmines (production, use etc.). The compiled list was addressed to him and the rest of the French government and was widely distributed amongst the media and different bodies likely to support our action.
The second occasion was in November 1997: Handicap International then asked France to sign the Mine Ban Treaty in December in Ottawa. 330,000 signatures were compiled and sent to all the country delegations present at Ottawa and to the press on a mass basis.
The third time was in March 2006: the 100,000 or so signatures on the China/USA/ Russia petition were compiled into three different lists (one per country). These were addressed to the ambassadors of these countries in France and were sent to the press along with a press release.
The million signatures collected against antipersonnel landmines, added to the hundreds of petitions signed during other foreign campaigns, carried a lot of weight in the adoption of the Mine Ban Treaty by 75% of the world's countries.
The petition against cluster bombs:
April 2004: launch of the “Stop Cluster Bombs! » campaign.”
Handicap International launch an initial appeal to 322,000 donors and sympathizers using petition cards calling on the President of France to see that France makes a clear stand against cluster bombs.
End of June 2004: 15,500 people had already signed the petition. Handicap International sent the petition cards to Jacques Chirac, asking for France to renounce cluster bombs and lead other countries in seeking a ban.
Summer 2004: launch of the Handicap International institutional cluster bomb campaign (posters, mailings etc.) To mark the occasion a special website (www.clusterbombs.us) devoted to cluster bombs went on-line and includes a petition calling for a ban on cluster bombs. 25 September 2004: nearly 63,000 people signed the petition at the 10th Shoe Pyramid event which took place in 34 towns in France.
Summer 2005: continuation of the Handicap International institutional campaign on the theme of cluster bombs. This time the operation “Take a stand against cluster bombs" featured on the site www.clusterbombs.us and each participant was invited to take a photo of their own personal protest.
October 8th 2005: 71,643 people signed the petition at the 11th Shoe Pyramid event which took place in 36 towns in France.
Today: over 215,000 people in Europe have signed the petition for a ban on cluster bombs.
February 16th 2006: the Belgian parliament voted in a total ban on cluster bombs. The signatures collected in Europe (notably in France) supported the Belgian section of Handicap International's arguments and helped convince politicians that the fight and its demands were worth acting upon.
