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I once had this nightmare:

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I'm standing in the middle[br]of a deserted field full of land mines.

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In real life, I love to hike,

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but every time I want to go on a hike,[br]it makes me nervous.

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I have this thought in the back of my mind

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that I might lose a limb.

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This underlying fear started 10 years ago,

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after I met Mohammed,[br]a cluster bomb survivor

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of the summer 2006[br]Israel-Hezbollah War in Lebanon.

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Mohammed, like so many[br]other survivors all around the world,

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had to live through the horrifying[br]repercussions of cluster munitions

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on a daily basis.

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When the one-month conflict[br]started in Lebanon,

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I was still working[br]at Agence France-Presse in Paris.

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I remember how I was glued to the screens,

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anxiously following the news.

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I wanted to reassure myself

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that the falling bombs[br]missed my parents' home.

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When I arrived in Beirut[br]on assignment to cover that war,

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I was relieved to be united[br]with my family,

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after they had finally managed[br]to escape southern Lebanon.

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The day the war was over,

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I remember seeing this image --

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one of blocked roads,

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of displaced people eagerly rushing[br]south, back to their homes,

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regardless of what they would find.

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An estimated four million[br]cluster submunitions

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were spread in Lebanon during[br]the 34-day conflict.

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Mohammed lost both legs[br]during the last week of the conflict.

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The fact that he lives a five-minute[br]drive from my parents' home

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made it easier to follow[br]him through the years.

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It was now almost 10 years[br]since we first met.

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I saw the young boy

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who had to endure[br]physical and emotional trauma.

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I saw the teenager who tried[br]to offer his friends tattoos,

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in return for a set fee of five dollars.

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And I know the young, jobless man[br]who spends hours surfing the Internet

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trying to meet a girl who might[br]become his girlfriend.

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His fate and the effects[br]of losing his legs

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are now his daily reality.

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Survivors of bomb trauma like Mohammed

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have to deal with so many details[br]that never occur to us.

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Who would have imagined

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that so many daily tasks we do[br]or take for granted,

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such as going to the beach or even[br]picking up something from the floor,

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would become sources[br]of stress and anxiety?

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Well, that's what eventually[br]became of Mohammed,

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due to his inflexible prosthetic legs.

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Ten years ago, I had no clue[br]what a cluster bomb was,

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nor its horrifying implications.

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I learned that this indiscriminate[br]weapon was used

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in so many parts of the world

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and continues to kill on a regular basis,

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without distinguishing[br]between a military target

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or a child.

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I naively asked myself,

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"But seriously, who made those weapons?

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And what for?"

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Let me explain to you[br]what a cluster bomb is.

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It's a large canister[br]filled with bomblets.

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When it's dropped from the air,

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it opens up in midair to release[br]hundreds of bomblets.

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They scatter around wide areas

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and on impact,

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many fail to explode.

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Those unexploded ones end up[br]just like landmines --

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sitting on the ground,

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waiting for their next target.

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If someone steps on them by accident

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or picks them up,

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they can explode.

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These weapons are extremely unpredictable,

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which makes the threat even bigger.

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One day, a farmer can work[br]his land without a problem.

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The next day, he can make fire[br]and burn some branches,

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and the submunitions close by[br]could be set off because of the heat.

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The problem is children mistake[br]those bomblets for toys,

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because they can look like[br]bouncy balls or soda cans.

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Being a documentary photographer,

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I decided to go back to Lebanon[br]a few months after the conflict ended

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to meet cluster bomb survivors.

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And I met a few --

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Hussein and Rasha,

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who both lost a leg to submunitions.

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Their stories are similar to so many[br]other kids' stories across the world

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and are a testimony[br]to the horrifying implications

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of the continuous use of such weapons.

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That's when I met Mohammed,[br]in January 2007.

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He was 11 years old,

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and I met him exactly four months[br]after his accident.

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When I first saw him,

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he was going through painful physiotherapy

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to recover from his fresh wounds.

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Still in shock at such a young age,

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Mohammed was struggling[br]to get used to his new body.

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He would even wake up sometimes[br]at night wanting to scratch his lost feet.

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What drew me closer to his story[br]was my instant realization

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of the difficulties Mohammed[br]was likely to face in the future --

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that what he has been suffering[br]while adjusting to his injury

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at the age of 11,

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would increase manyfold.

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Even before his disability,

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Mohammed's life wasn't easy.

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He was born in the Rashidieh Camp[br]for Palestinian refugees,

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and this is where he still lives.

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Lebanon holds some 400,000[br]Palestinian refugees,

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and they suffer from discriminatory laws.

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They're not allowed to work[br]in the public sector

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or practice certain professions

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and are denied the right to own property.

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This is one of the reasons

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why Mohammed doesn't really[br]regret dropping out of school

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right after his injury.

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He said, "What's the point[br]of a university degree

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when I can't find a job to start with?"

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Cluster bomb use creates a vicious circle[br]of impact on communities,

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and not only the lives of their victims.

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Many who get injured by this weapon[br]drop out of school,

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can't find jobs or even lose their jobs,

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therefore losing the ability[br]to provide for their families.

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This is not to mention[br]the continuous physical pain

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and the experience of feeling isolated.

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These weapons affect[br]the poorest of the poor.

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The high medical cost[br]is a burden to the families.

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They end up relying[br]on humanitarian agencies,

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which is insufficient and unsustainable,

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especially when injuries require[br]lifelong support to the injured.

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Ten years after Mohammed's injury,

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he is still unable to afford[br]proper prosthetic legs.

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He's very cautious with his steps,

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as a couple of falls over the years

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brought him embarrassment[br]among his friends.

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He joked that since he doesn't have legs,

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some days he tries to walk on his hands.

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One of the worst yet invisible[br]impacts of the weapon

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is the psychological scars it leaves.

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In one of Mohammed's[br]early medical reports,

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he was diagnosed with signs of PTSD.

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He suffered from anxiety,[br]poor appetite, sleep disturbance

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and showed signs of anger.

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The reality is Mohammed never received[br]proper help to fully recover.

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His current obsession[br]is to leave Lebanon at any cost --

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even if it meant embarking[br]on a hazardous journey

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along with refugees drifting towards[br]Europe today through the Mediterranean.

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Knowing how risky such a journey would be,

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he said, "If I were to die on the way,

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it doesn't matter."

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To Mohammed, he is dead here, anyway.

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Cluster bombs are a world problem,

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as this munition keeps destroying[br]and hurting whole communities

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for generations to come.

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In an online interview with the director[br]of the Mines Advisory Group,

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Jamie Franklin,

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he said,

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"The US forces dropped over two million[br]tons of munitions over Laos.

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If they couldn't find[br]their targets in Vietnam,

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there were free-drop areas in Laos[br]where planes would drop their loads

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before going back to base,

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because it's dangerous to land[br]with loaded planes."

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According to the International[br]Committee of the Red Cross,

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in Laos alone -- one of the poorest[br]countries in the world --

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nine to 27 million unexploded[br]submunitions remain.

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Some 11,000 people have been killed[br]or injured since 1973.

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This lethal weapon has been used[br]by over 20 states during armed conflicts

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in over 35 countries,

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such as Ukraine, Iraq and Sudan.

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So far, 119 states have joined[br]an international treaty

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banning cluster bombs,

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which is officially called[br]the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

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But some of the biggest producers[br]of cluster munitions --

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namely, the United States,[br]Russia and China --

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remain outside of this lifesaving treaty

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and continue to produce them,

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reserve the right to produce[br]them in the future,

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keep those harmful weapons[br]in their stockpiles

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and even possibly use them in the future.

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Cluster bombs have reportedly[br]been used most recently

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in the ongoing conflicts[br]in Yemen and Syria.

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According to research[br]on the worldwide investments

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in cluster munitions producers

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by Pax, a Dutch-based NGO,

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financial institutions invested[br]billions of US dollars

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into companies that make[br]cluster munitions.

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The majority of these institutions[br]are based in countries

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that have not yet signed[br]the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

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Getting back to Mohammed,

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one of the few jobs he was able[br]to find was picking lemons.

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When I ask him if it's safe[br]to work in the field he said,

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"I'm not sure."

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Research shows that cluster munitions[br]often contaminate areas

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where agriculture is the main[br]source of income.

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According to Handicap[br]International's research,

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98 percent of those killed or injured[br]by cluster munitions are civilians.

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Eighty-four percent[br]of casualties are males.

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In countries where[br]these people have no choice

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but to work in those fields,

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they simply do it

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and risk it.

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Mohammed is the only male[br]to three sisters.

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Culturally, he's expected[br]to provide for his family,

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but he simply can't.

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He tried to have so many different jobs,

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but he couldn't keep any[br]due to his physical disability

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and the less-than-friendly environment[br]to people with disabilities,

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to say the least.

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It hurts him a lot when he goes[br]out looking for a job,

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and he's turned away

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with a small amount of money[br]paid to him out of pity.

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He said, "I'm not here to beg for money,

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I just want to earn it."

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Mohammed today is 21 years old.

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He's illiterate,

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and he communicates with voice messages.

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Here is one of his messages.

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(Audio) Mohammed: (Speaking in Arabic)

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Laura Boushnak:[br]He said, "My dream is to run,

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and I'm pretty sure once I start running,

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I would never stop."

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Thank you.

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(Applause)