August 14th, 2009 11:40 AM
BEIRUT (AFP) — Two young Lebanese brothers were injured by a cluster bomb on Wednesday, the 60th anniversary of the Geneva conventions on conflict, the Cluster Munition Coalition said.
Abbas Awali, 13, and Hussein Awali, 10, were gathering wood when they were hit by the blast in the southern village of Tulin, 10 kilometres (six miles) from the Israeli border, the London-based organisation said.
"This makes the remembrance of the victims even more sad and relevant -- all that on the 60th anniversary of the Geneva Conventions," CMC communications officer Jean-Marc Jacobs told AFP.
The 1949 treaties formally outlined international law on the protection of civilians, detainees, the wounded and humanitarian workers in conflicts.
In May, Israel gave UN peacekeepers in Lebanon maps showing the location of over one million cluster munitions it dropped during its devastating air war on Lebanon three summers ago.
Around 40 percent of the bomblets failed to detonate on impact, according to the United Nations.
About 300 Lebanese civilians have since been killed or maimed by cluster bombs, according to the UN Mine Action Coordination Centre. Children, who mistake the bomblets for toys, account for most of the victims.
Cluster munitions spread bomblets over a wide area from a single device. The bomblets that do not explode on impact can do so later at the slightest touch, making them deadly as anti-personnel landmines.
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