Call for a ban on cluster bombs

2008 will see the conclusion of a new international treaty prohibiting the use, production, stockpiling and transfer of cluster munitions. Final treaty negotiations will take place in Dublin, Ireland, in May. The UK is supporting the treaty, but is attempting to negotiate loopholes for certain cluster weapons that it wished to keep. Such loopholes risk undermining the Treaty and exempting weapons that will still harm civilians.

Update: 30 May

On Friday the 30 May 110 Governments participating in the Dublin Diplomatic Conference formally adopted the text of a new Convention banning cluster munitions. The Convention will be open for signature in Oslo on the 2-3 December 2008 and will enter into force 6 months after the 30th country has ratified it The UK Government, despite its initial attempts to secure loopholes and exemptions in the treaty, played a key role is insuring the negotiations were successful during the final days of negotiations. The Prime Minister’s intervention on the 28 May, announcing the withdrawal from service of the UK’s remaining cluster munitions – the same systems the UK were seeking exceptions for - influenced the decision of many other governments participating in the conference.

The Convention is a huge success, not only providing for a categorical prohibition on all cluster munitions, ensuring that they will never have the chance to kill and maim civilians in the future, but also in setting new standards for international human rights and humanitarian law with its legal obligations on victim assistance. Amnesty International Amnesty International has joined with our CMC (Cluster Munition Coalition) campaign partners and allies across the world in welcoming this landmark agreement that will set new international legal standards on the prohibition of indiscriminate weapons and the protection of civilians in and after armed conflict

A huge thank you for all of you that took action on this issue over the last few months. This victory would not have been possible without your efforts! We now need to ensure that the UK Government now focus on implementing its own national legislation banning cluster bombs to enable them be among the first few Governments to ratify the treaty. Leadership from the UK on this, who has been the third largest user of cluster munitions in the last decade, will set a precedent for many other States.

For more information about the Cluster Bombs ban and latest campaign actions, please visit out campaign partners at Landmineaction.org

Background information

Cluster bombs have killed and injured thousands of civilians during the last 40 years and continue to do so today. More recently, cluster bombs were used extensively in the Gulf War, Chechnya, the former Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Iraq and in Lebanon in 2006.  The UN estimates that Israel used up to 4 million sub munitions in southern Lebanon. In the first 6 months following the ceasefire in 2006, about 200 civilians were killed or injured in Lebanon by unexploded cluster bombs. One year later the death-toll is still rising. One of the cluster bombs widely used, the M85, is exactly the same as the type the UK wishes to define as safe.

A cluster bomb, is a weapon containing multiple explosive bomblets (also known as sub munitions).  These weapons are dropped from aircraft or fired from the ground and designed to break open in midair, releasing the sub munitions and saturating an area that can be the size of several football fields.

They kill and injure civilians both during attacks, (due to the large area affect of the weapon) and in the post conflict period (as many fail to explode on impact.)  Unexploded sub munitions continues to hamper post conflict reconstruction and development long after the fighting has ended. These weapons kill and injure people trying to rebuild their lives after conflict. They stop people from being able to use their land and access schools and hospitals. They can remain a threat for decades.

Governments are required under International Humanitarian Law to protect civilians during conflict. This is why countries signed a Treaty banning antipersonnel landmines in 1997 and this is why countries must do the same for cluster bombs.  Norway launched an initiative in February 2007, known as the Oslo Process that aims to  create an International Treaty by the end of 2008. An international conference to finalise the treaty is due to take place in Dublin, Ireland, in May 2008.

Although the UK is participating in these negotiations, they have been one of the most vocal opponents of an outright prohibition on cluster munitions, calling instead for exemptions for certain weapons that the UK has in stocks (the artillery fired M85 and the rocket launched CRV-7).  One of their proposed exemptions would require cluster bombs to have self-destruct mechanisms fitted to them, whilst the other would create a loophole for any cluster weapon which contains less than 10 submunitions.   The inclusion of any of these provisions will fundamentally weaken the humanitarian protection provided by the treaty and would create huge loopholes for the future. We need your help to stop this from happening.

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2008 will see the conclusion of a new international treaty prohibiting the use, production, stockpiling and transfer of cluster munitions. Final treaty negotiations will take place in Dublin, Ireland, in May. The UK is supporting the treaty, but is attempting to negotiate loopholes for certain cluster weapons that it wished to keep. Such loopholes risk undermining the Treaty and exempting weapons that will still harm civilians.

Update: 30 May

On Friday the 30 May 110 Governments participating in the Dublin Diplomatic Conference formally adopted the text of a new Convention banning cluster munitions. The Convention will be open for signature in Oslo on the 2-3 December 2008 and will enter into force 6 months after the 30th country has ratified it The UK Government, despite its initial attempts to secure loopholes and exemptions in the treaty, played a key role is insuring the negotiations were successful during the final days of negotiations. The Prime Minister’s intervention on the 28 May, announcing the withdrawal from service of the UK’s remaining cluster munitions – the same systems the UK were seeking exceptions for - influenced the decision of many other governments participating in the conference.

The Convention is a huge success, not only providing for a categorical prohibition on all cluster munitions, ensuring that they will never have the chance to kill and maim civilians in the future, but also in setting new standards for international human rights and humanitarian law with its legal obligations on victim assistance. Amnesty International Amnesty International has joined with our CMC (Cluster Munition Coalition) campaign partners and allies across the world in welcoming this landmark agreement that will set new international legal standards on the prohibition of indiscriminate weapons and the protection of civilians in and after armed conflict

A huge thank you for all of you that took action on this issue over the last few months. This victory would not have been possible without your efforts! We now need to ensure that the UK Government now focus on implementing its own national legislation banning cluster bombs to enable them be among the first few Governments to ratify the treaty. Leadership from the UK on this, who has been the third largest user of cluster munitions in the last decade, will set a precedent for many other States.

For more information about the Cluster Bombs ban and latest campaign actions, please visit out campaign partners at Landmineaction.org

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