Action Card Briefing – September 2008
International Cluster Bombs Ban
Only a few weapons have ever been banned
outright. Landmines are one example. Now cluster munitions will also be
banned under a new international treaty.
Cluster munitions release a large number of
bomblets in order to deliver a blast over a wide area. The dangers posed
by unexploded bomblets after battle are well known. The following
account by the Mines Advisory Group in Kosovo in 1999 demonstrates the
danger only too well.
"A group of children had found an unexploded
bomblet close to [Musa] village and after returning home talked
excitedly about the unusual, bright yellow, cylindrical object. Worried
villagers told them to stay well away. The following day one of the
villagers, a man named Gani, spotted the children standing next to the
bomblet debating whether or not to pick it up. Gani told them to leave
it alone and to leave the area immediately. He decided to move it out of
the way to prevent the children from tampering with the device. It
exploded as he picked it up, killing him instantly and injuring one of
the children, Albin. The boy lost a hand and suffered serious
fragmentation injuries."
In Dublin in May 2008, 111 Governments agreed
the text of an international treaty to ban cluster munitions. During the
Dublin Conference the UK Government announced that it would decommission
all of its cluster munitions in order to support a strong international
agreement. The treaty requires the signatory states to destroy all
stockpiles within eight years, including foreign stockpiling. Therefore,
although the US has refused so far to agree to a ban, stocks of cluster
munitions at US bases in the UK will have to be cleared.
There will be a formal signing of the treaty
in Oslo in December. Some significant users of cluster munitions such as
the US, Israel, Russia and China do not want to sign the treaty. However
the implementation of the treaty by other states will stigmatise these
weapons to the extent that it will be very difficult for anyone to
justify their use again.
The UK now needs to concentrate on
implementing national legislation prohibiting the stockpiling,
manufacture and use of cluster munitions. This will enable UK
ratification of the treaty. 30 states must ratify the treaty before it
can enter into force. The UK can help to bring an end to cluster
munitions use worldwide by its prompt ratification of the treaty and by
encouraging other countries to sign up.
Visit:
landmineaction.org
Please write to your MP to:
-
-
Acknowledge the
positive role that the UK played in ensuring a successful outcome of
the Dublin Diplomatic Conference on Cluster Munitions in May 2008
and welcome the UK Government’s intention to sign the treaty in
December
-
Stress the importance
of early ratification and ask your MP to write to the Foreign
Secretary to request that the necessary legislation to enable UK
ratification is brought before Parliament as soon as possible.
-
Please email
info@jointpublicissues.org.uk with details of any response
received from your MP
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