VietNamNet Bridge - Ho Van Lai, 23, lost an eye, a hand and two of his friends when a cluster bomb leftover from the American war exploded in a hole they were digging 10 years ago.
 
At first, he received day-long treatment at home. He then attended a school for disabled children for three years before returning to a normal classroom.
 
Today, still grieving, he faces an uncertain future.
 
Many of the young man's fellow cluster-bomb victims were not yet born when US pilots and their allies dropped millions of the tiny, but deadly, explosives onto Vietnam.
 
Their legacy is a country that is among the must seriously affected by unexploded ordnance in the world.
 
It is estimated that almost 1 million tons of cluster bombs and other unexploded devices are scattered over about 6.6 million ha, or about one-fifth of the country, in almost all provinces.
 
Land mines alone kill about 100 people every year.
 
An estimated 5 percent of the total bombs dropped during the American War, or about 800,000 land mines, did not explode, figures by Vietnam's Technology Center for Bomb and Mine Disposal show.
 
The US government and Norway People's Fund-financed project titled, RENEW, Restoring the Environment and Neutralizing the Effects of the War - has found that children are 62 percent of land mine victims.
 
Although the most affected provinces, Quang Tri, Thua Thien-Hue, and Ha Tinh, have undergone numerous clearance projects, it's estimated that at least US$10 billion and 50 years will be needed to get the job done.
 
Tragic death and injury creates enormous difficulties for the mostly poor families of the victims.
 
Not alone
 
Vietnam is not alone.
 
As Lao President Choummaly Sayasone said when opening the first meeting of the states that are party to the Convention of Cluster Munitions in Vientiane last week his country is among the most-affected countries.
 
"Given the large scale of unexploded ordnance contamination, clearance and addressing its impacts on people's life remain a significant challenge for our national development and poverty reduction," he said.
 
Two hundred and seventy million cluster bombs were among the munitions dropped.
 
Their average failure rate was 30 percent, says the Lao National Regulatory Authority.
 
The unexploded munitions have killed or wounded more than 22,000 people in Laos since the American War ended.
 
Worldwide, cluster bombs are estimated to have killed or wounded tens of thousands of civilians.
 
The convention, which became international law on August 1, bans cluster bombs and entitles the countries they have affected to financial help.
 
Declaration
 
Delegates from more than 100 countries attended the first high-level meeting of signatory nations since it came into effect and reiterated their commitment to end the harm caused by cluster munitions.
 
"We affirm our commitment to end the harm caused by cluster munitions," their declaration said. "We call on all signatories to ratify and urged states not yet party to the convention to join as soon as possible."
 
Norway was the first country to sign the convention and then Laos.
 
A total of 108 have now signed the convention and more than 37 have ratified it. They include makers and users of cluster munitions as well as victim countries.
 
Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan and Lebanon have all suffered high numbers of casualties from leftover cluster munitions, says the non-governmental watchdog Land mine and Cluster Munitions Monitor.
 
After Laos and Vietnam, Iraq and Cambodia are the most contaminated.
 
"You can't win a political war if you kill civilians, and that's what cluster bombs do," says Cluster Munitions Coalition coordinator Thomas Nash.
 
Vietnam deputy Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh told last week's meeting: "Much remains to be done to translate the convention into reality."
 
"Most, if not all, major makers and holders of cluster munitions are still outsiders to this process.
 
"In the meantime, most countries which are victimized by cluster munitions lack resources and capacities to deal with the burden of clearing the vast contaminated areas and of providing help to the victims, especially medical and psychological care."
 
"Vietnam stands ready to co-operate with all its international partners to reduce the sufferings that many victims of these horrible weapons have to carry," he said.
 
The Vietnamese government has adopted concrete measures to address the issue and honoring the convention's obligations.
 
In April, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung approved a National Action Plan to address the post-war effects of bombs and mines to 2025.
 
The plan provides government agencies with specific tasks to deal with cluster bombs and other unexploded munitions.
 
Lai and many other cluster-bomb victims who never saw the war, can now believe that perhaps fewer other innocent people will also have to suffer as they have.

Source: VNS