Long-Awaited Cluster Bomb Ban Enters Into Force

Long-Awaited Cluster Bomb Ban Enters Into Force

By Esther Banales

IPS

July 30, 2010

http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=52331

 

UNITED NATIONS, Jul 30, 2010 (IPS) - Thirty-eight

countries will start observing the Convention on Cluster

Munitions this Sunday, Aug. 1, after a rapid entry into

force since the treaty was announced two years ago in Oslo.

 

"This new instrument is a major advance for the global

disarmament and humanitarian agendas, and will help us

to counter the widespread insecurity and suffering

caused by these terrible weapons, particularly among

civilians and children," noted U.N. Secretary-General

Ban Ki-moon.

 

Cluster munitions explode in mid-air to release dozens -

sometimes hundreds - of smaller "bomblets" across large

areas. Because the final location of these scattered

smaller bombs is difficult to control, they can cause

large numbers of civilian casualties.

 

Bomblets that fail to explode immediately may also lay

dormant, potentially acting as landmines and killing or

maiming civilians long after a conflict is ended.

Children are known to be particularly at risk from dud

cluster munitions since they are often attracted to the

shiny objects and less aware of their dangers.

 

Since the countdown towards enforcement started in

February 2010, the Cluster Munition Coalition (CMC), a

civil society campaign, has been raising public

awareness and encouraging countries to adhere to the

"most significant disarmament and humanitarian treaty in

over a decade".

 

"Our activities more recently have been aimed at trying

to get an early entry into force, getting to the 30

ratifications necessary to do this," Stephen Goose, one

of the founders and co-chair of the CMC and director of

the Arms Division at Human Rights Watch (HRW), told IPS.

"It is quite unusual for so many countries to have

already completed their ratification procedures."

 

After Sunday, more countries are expected to join the

current list of 38. "Many of the states who signed but

not yet ratified are very close to ratifying it, most of

them awaiting completion of their national domestic law

procedures," an official with the Office for Disarmament

Affaires (ODA) at the United Nations told IPS.

 

So far, 107 countries have signed. Others remain

hesitant.

 

For example, Thailand, a leader in the adoption of the

landmark Mine Ban Treaty in 1997, has not yet become a

signatory. The CMC has been lobbying its Foreign

Ministry to join the treaty, and called for Thailand to

attend the First Meeting of States Parties from Nov.

9-12 in Laos.

 

"Although Thailand possesses cluster munition

stockpiles, this should not be a barrier to joining this

important agreement," reads a recent letter sent by the

CMC. "Thailand has already announced that it does not

intend to use cluster munitions and its stockpiles are

outdated. The Convention also contains an eight year

period in which States Parties need to complete the

destruction of stockpiles."

 

IPS contacted the Mission of Thailand to the United

Nations, but received no answer by press time.

 

The letter was one of many sent to governments around

the world as part of the "Countdown to Entry Into Force"

campaign led by the coalition that appealed to

governments in Morocco, Slovakia, and Sudan, among others.

 

"The Convention will have a stigmatising effect even for

countries that haven't joined," Conor Fortune, a media

officer with the CMC, told IPS. "We've already seen that

there was international public condemnation when the

weapon was used in recent armed conflicts, by Russia and

Georgia over South Ossetia in 2008 and by Israel in

Lebanon in 2006."

 

In the West, the United States has also been a focus of

the coalition's efforts. "At the moment the [Barack]

Obama Administration is engaged in a very in-depth

review of their landmine policy to see if they want to

join the convention," Goose explained. "The U.S. has

already acknowledged that cluster munitions should be

banned at some point in the future."

 

Meanwhile, the Pentagon declared that the U.S. will

restrain from using cluster munitions with a failure

rate of more than one percent, which would include all

but a small fraction, by the end of 2018.

 

"[The U.S.] should not wait another eight years to stop

using cluster munitions; it should ban them now," Goose declared.

 

Prohibition of cluster munitions, however, is just a

part of what the convention stands for. The treaty also

requires destruction of stockpiles within eight years

and clearance of contaminated land within 10 years. It

also recognises the rights of individuals affected by

these weapons to receive assistance and compels all

countries to support states in fulfilling their obligations.

 

"Assistance could be provided either bilaterally or

through the U.N., international and regional

organisations, International Committee of the Red Cross

(ICRC), and NGOs, and could take the form of financial,

technical and other assistance," according to ODA.

 

The primary responsibility to provide assistance lies,

however, with state parties and applies to their

jurisdiction. If one state lacks resources, other

countries or organisations could provide it.

 

"Nations that remain outside this treaty are missing out

on the most significant advance in disarmament of the

past decade," Goose said. "If governments care enough

about humanitarian law and protecting civilians from the

deadly effects of armed conflict, they will join immediately."

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