Life after war

©InfoIs a war over when people stop firing? Not always. The effects of a war can continue long after people stop shooting.

Invite students to think about how the impact of a conflict might continue when the firing is over. Write down ideas individually or in small groups, or share them from the start in a large group.

Among things they might include are:

• the changed lives of those who have lost family and friends
• the changed lives of those whose family or friends are missing
• injuries to people and damage to buildings, systems and social structures
• continuing deaths and injuries from weapons that remain active, such as landmines or shells that failed to explode. These are often grouped together in the technical term unexploded ordnance, or UXO.

Then show the 3-minute video. It concentrates on this final point – of unexploded ordnance. In this case, it is the ordnance left by the weapons known as cluster munitions after a conflict between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon during July 2006.

Read the video transcript. 

Activities

Divide the group into three, and invite each to take one of these tasks related to the video.

• Patrick Chappatte says we are overwhelmed by images. We have a hard time making sense of them. What does he mean? Do you agree? Give some examples of where such images are seen. What would make them easier to make sense of?
• "Cartoons are simple, they allow you to bring back the humanity." What is happening in the world that you would like to have explained more simply? Could it be represented in cartoon form? Sketch out some ideas.
• What are cluster munitions? Does the short film help you understand? If you were explaining to a younger child to keep away from areas with cluster bombs, what would you say? How would you respond to their questions about how and why they are there?

Feed responses back to the whole group.

Distinction

Say to students that they are going to decide whether they would join the convention that prohibits the use of cluster munitions.

First they have to understand the relevant part of international humanitarian law – or the laws of war.

This mini-briefing should help:

In an armed conflict, soldiers can lawfully do things that would be illegal in peacetime. They can attack, kill and injure other soldiers.

But they cannot do just anything. They must stick to the laws of war.

The law says combatants (soldiers and other fighters) and military targets can, generally, be attacked.

It is not necessarily illegal if civilians are hurt in such attacks. But civilians cannot, under any circumstances, be targeted for attack.

It follows that military planners and commanders who order an attack have to be very sure of the difference between civilians and combatants.

That vital principle of the laws of war is known as distinction. Briefly, it says:

Parties to the conflict must at all times distinguish between civilians and combatants. Attacks may only be directed against combatants. Attacks must not be directed against civilians.

It also follows that the weapons themselves must not be indiscriminate. If a weapon is indiscriminate, or if it is used in an indiscriminate way, it is likely to be illegal.

Once students have understood the law, ask them to decide about cluster munitions. This short description from the International Committee of the Red Cross may help:

In nearly every conflict where they have been used over the past 40 years cluster munitions have taken a heavy toll on civilians both during the fighting and after military operations have ended.

Civilian casualties during conflict often occur because cluster munitions scatter huge numbers of explosive submunitions over very large areas. Some models discharge hundreds of submunitions over more than thirty thousand square metres of territory. Since these submunitions are generally free-falling, incorrect use, wind, and other factors can cause them to strike well outside the intended target area.

In addition, large numbers of submunitions often fail to detonate as intended, contaminating large areas with deadly explosive ordnance. Many thousands of civilians have been killed or injured by these devices. The presence of these weapons makes farming a dangerous activity and hinders the reconstruction and development of vital infrastructure such as roads, railways and power plants. Clearing unexploded submunitions after a conflict is often difficult and dangerous. Some countries have been dealing with unexploded submunitions for decades. Laos is the country most heavily affected by cluster munitions with tens of millions of unexploded submunitions littering its territory.

Some countries have signed up to the convention against the use of cluster munitions. They include the UK, and many other countries in Europe, Africa, Asia and the Americas. Countries that have not signed include the USA, Russia, Brazil, China, India, Pakistan and Israel. If students were advising governments, what would they say?

Remember that countries that have not signed the convention must still be careful to distinguish between combatants and civilians. The laws about distinction apply to all.

UXO locally

Unexploded ordnance is still found in the UK. Some is left from World War II or, more recently, from the Troubles in Northern Ireland. It can make local news headlines – and lead to evacuations from homes while bombs are defused.

Use online searches or the local library to find the most recent, or geographically nearest, instance of UXO in the UK. What happened?

On a lighter note, journalists of local papers have been known to write headlines such as: "Shell found on beach". Why might readers think it's been a slow news week?

These activities are from newsthink, the news-based education resource. Sign up to receive free news discussions, videos, audio clips and photos every fortnight during term time via email.