NGOs hail imminent entry into force of cluster bomb ban treaty

Kanaga Raja

The imminent entry into force of an international convention banning cluster munitions is eagerly awaited by non-governmental organisations.

Non-governmental organisations have welcomed the forthcoming entry into force on 1 August 2010 of an international convention banning cluster munitions. The 30 ratifications needed for the entry into force of the convention was reached Tuesday (16 February 2010).

According to a press release by the Cluster Munition Coalition, an international grouping of some 350 non-governmental organisations campaigning to ban cluster munitions, Burkina Faso and Moldova ratified the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 16 February, triggering the entry into force of the international treaty on 1 August.

The Convention on Cluster Munitions, signed in Oslo in December 2008, bans the use, production, stockpiling and transfer of cluster munitions and requires countries to clear affected areas within 10 years and destroy stockpiles of the weapon within eight. In addition, the Convention obliges states to support survivors and affected communities, according to the press release.

According to the NGO coalition, the cluster munition convention is the most significant international disarmament treaty since the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty banning antipersonnel land-mines.

In a statement released in New York, a spokesperson for UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said that the Secretary-General welcomes this major advance on the global disarmament agenda, and notes that the Convention’s entry into force just two years after its adoption demonstrates the world’s collective revulsion at the impact of these terrible weapons.

Cluster munitions are unreliable and inaccurate. During conflict and long after it has ended, they maim and kill scores of civilians, including many children. They impair post-conflict recovery by making roads and land inaccessible to farmers and aid workers, said the statement.

The United Nations is firmly committed to ending the use, stockpiling, production and transfer of cluster munitions and mitigating the suffering they cause, it added, citing the Secretary-General as calling on all States to become a party to the Convention without delay.

A cluster munition (or cluster bomb) is a weapon containing multiple - often hundreds - of small explosive sub-munitions or bomblets.

According to the coalition, these munitions are dropped from the air or fired from the ground and are designed to break open in mid-air, releasing the sub-munitions over an area that can be the size of several football fields. This means they cannot discriminate between civilians and soldiers. Many of the sub-munitions fail to explode on impact and remain a threat to lives and livelihoods for decades after a conflict.

A total of 104 countries have signed the Convention since it opened for signature in Oslo in December 2008.

According to the NGO coalition, the 30 ratifying countries include States that led the “Oslo Process” effort to create the Convention (Norway, Austria, Holy See, Ireland, Mexico, and New Zealand), States where cluster munitions have been used (Albania, Croatia, Laos, Sierra Leone, and Zambia), cluster munition stockpilers (Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Japan, Moldova, Montenegro, and Slovenia), as well as Spain, the first signatory country to complete destruction of its stockpile.

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