Dr. Larry Schwab Campaigns Against Cluster Munitions

IEF Board member Dr. Larry Schwab is a delegate in Vientiane, Lao PDR (Laos) at the First Meeting of the States Parties to the Convention on Cluster Munitions. Dr. Schwab is campaigning to ban cluster munitions and landmines which cause severe blinding injuries. The meeting, being held November 9-12, 2010 will establish the means for implementing the Convention on Cluster Munitions which was signed in Oslo, Norway in December 2008.

Dr. Schwab has long been an advocate for a ban on landmines, a completely preventable and horrific cause of blindness in developing countries that do not have the resources to clear these weapons once a conflict has ended. In June 1996, the International Eye Foundation was the first eye care NGO to pass a resolution in support of the international ban on the production, stockpiling, transfer, and use of antipersonnel landmines. This was in advance of the 1997 Ottawa Comprehensive Treaty to Ban Antipersonnel Landmines.



Photo: Dr. Larry Schwab (left) with wife Martha presents a copy of his book "Eye Care in Developing Nations" to former President Jimmy Carter.