Long-Awaited Cluster Bomb Ban Enters Into Force
UNITED NATIONS, Jul 30 (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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