I'm in a bus with more than 50 other delegates from around the world.  We are all working on getting rid of unexploded bombs and mines from the many countries that suffer this worst legacy of wars.

We are stuck in traffic for 45 minutes, going into downtown San Jose, the capital city of Costa Rica. I find myself surprised to be sitting next to Pham Qui Thi, a 59-year-old farmer from Quang Tri.

Who would have thought that in this country half way across the globe from Vietnam I would find the warm company of a fellow countryman? Maybe he was just as surprised to find me.

Thi proudly told me about his three children, all of whom are university graduates and have jobs; about his wife, who waits for him at home in Quang Tri; about his small plot of land, enough to generate a modest income for him and his wife.

In his enthusiastic voice, his right arm joined into our conversation too. It went up and down with his deep voice and his smiles. Naturally, my eyes followed his arm as part of the conversation. I wanted to cry when I realised that Thi’s right arm was only half there. No fingers at all.

Not noticing my realisation, Thi went on telling me about how he enjoyed volunteering to work for other farmers in Quang Tri who are survivors of landmines and unexploded bombs: and how now they live with much difficulty not only in working at their livelihoods but also having to carry the physical and psychological scars of the explosions that changed their lives.

Forty five minutes flew by with Thi’s full-of-life stories. We arrived at the Melico Salazar Theatre in San Jose. I was quietly happy in knowing that Thi represented the Vietnamese survivors of explosive remnants of war at this 5th State Meeting of States Parties to the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

One hundred nations were represented at the Opening Ceremony, filled with music and poetry. In the audience, we were all touched by the powerful messages such as “Let our children harvest peace. Let our children not harvest bombs”.

One hundred and fourteen countries have signed the Convention which was adopted in 2008 to prohibit the use, production, transfer, stockpiling of cluster munitions, and to provide assistance to affected countries. On the first day of the Meeting, Sept 2nd, 30 statements were delivered, of which two thirds strongly condemned the use of cluster munitions in Syria, South Sudan and Ukraine. On the same day, the Cluster Munition Coalition released the Cluster Munition Monitor 2014 which documented at least 264 deaths and 1,320 injuries in Syria from cluster bombs used in 2012 and 2013; and that “hundreds more were recorded in the first half of 2014.”

Like Thi, ninety-seven percent of the dead in Syria were civilians. Thi has always been a farmer in his hometown which is the former DMZ in the war in Vietnam. After the cluster munition accident, life was extremely difficult for Thi. Yet, he not only raised three children with his wife, but also initiated many programs to provide peer support to other farmers in similar situations in Quang Tri, such as access to micro credit, or sports.

Thi told me that he would be speaking at a side event of the Convention on Friday Sept 5th to show other survivors who lost have limbs on how to deal with the “phantom pain”, the sensations of pain in an absent limb.

The Convention on Cluster Munitions is not just about destroying the lethal munitions. It is about people, their physical and mental health, and their livelihoods. It is about Thi’s stories and communities like Thi’s in Quang Tri. More than any other country, Vietnam and its people have paid the price that these weapons entail. Many innocient civilians have to pay this price every day, for the rest of their lives, in Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Iraq, Lebanon and in many other countries.  

Thao Nguyen Griffiths and international delegates at the meeting.

The New York Times ran an article on August 27th on the heavy use of banned cluster bombs being reported in Syria.  It mentions that “Lebanon, Laos and Iraq are among the 113 countries that have signed the cluster munitions ban treaty. Syria, Israel and Vietnam are among the 51 that have not, a grouping that also includes China, Russia and the United States.”

In the last two days of the Meeting, I have been asked so many times by friends of Vietnam: "Why doesn’t Vietnam participate officially in this Meeting as an observer?"

These friends include Norway, Ireland, and Britain who are among the key donors for the national mine action program in Vietnam. Like them, I also am puzzled by this decision by Vietnam to stand outside the most important global forum of humanitarian mine action at a time when it is of high priority for Vietnam to accelerate its implementation of the national mine action program 2010-2015.

I wonder whether Vietnam swings between wanting to be part of a larger world of humanitarian mine action, and wanting to do things its own way. If so, I guess this is one of those swings.  One of Vietnam's great strengths is its self-reliance.  But sometimes a strength mis-used can act disadvantageously.

I continue to wonder what it would take for Vietnam to engage in this important forum. Through joining the UN Peace Keeping Operation in mine action and co-chairing the ASEAN military-to-military humanitarian mine action expert working group, Vietnam is showing the world it is a responsible and reliable partner and is keen to share its expertise in mine action, despite constraints in financial capacity.

Vietnam runs one of the largest mine action programs in the world, with a strong sense of national ownership, using state budget, with only modest support from the donor countries.

Vietnam has done a tremendous job in mine action. But we are missing out on the conversation with others to share our experience and to galvanize international support for Vietnam to eliminate the suffering caused by unexploded bombs.

It is often quoted by the Government of Vietnam that, at the present rate of progress, it will take more than 300 years to decontaminate Vietnam. Might not a little talking in the right places speed it up?  

Thao Nguyen Griffiths

Country Director of Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation from Costa Rica