February
16, 2008 International Meeting
to Seek Ban
on Cluster Bombs
Wellington
Representatives from 120 countries will meet in New Zealand next
week to draft an international agreement banning cluster bombs that
have killed or maimed thousands of civilians - but the US and other
major weapon-producing nations will not attend.
Russia, China, India, Pakistan and Israel - which was widely
condemned for indiscriminate use of the bombs in its 34-day war on
Hezbollah in Lebanon in 2006 - will be conspicuous by their absence.
But New Zealand officials are confident the Wellington conference on
cluster munitions from Feb 18-22 will continue to build enough
pressure on manufacturing countries to lead to a global ban
eventually.
A total of 34 states are known to have produced more than 210
different types of cluster bombs, which are designed to explode on
impact, scattering hundreds of smaller "bomblets" over wide areas,
inevitably causing mass civilian casualties.
Their failure rate is high, leaving thousands of unexploded 'bomblets'
on the ground like de facto landmines for years after conflicts have
ended, with inquisitive children frequently the victims.
These weapons were first used in World War II when they were known
as "butterfly bombs" and have since been widely used in Laos in the
1960s, Vietnam and Cambodia, Afghanistan, Africa, Kosovo in 1999,
Iraq and Lebanon.
At least 25 countries have unexploded cluster munitions on their
land and 76 nations are known to have stockpiled billions of the
weapons, posing what officials describe as a "grave humanitarian
problem".
With moves to get a global ban making only glacial progress in the
UN, a group of seven states - Austria, Ireland, New Zealand, Norway,
Mexico, Peru and the Holy See - launched their own drive for a
treaty outlawing cluster bombs in Oslo a year ago.
A total of 46 countries were represented there and 68 sent delegates
to the next meeting in Lima so New Zealand officials see the 120
states who have registered for Wellington as indicating a
groundswell of support for a ban.
While the US will not be there - "aggressively pursuing other
options" through the UN, according to Washington - officials believe
the so-called Oslo Process designed to produce a legally binding
international treaty for "prohibition on the use, production,
transfer and stockpiling of cluster munitions that cause
unacceptable harm to civilians" to be irreversible.
Sources admit there remain significant differences of opinion on
exactly which weapons should be included in the treaty and issues
such as how stockpiles should be disposed off in an environmentally
acceptable way and whether some should be retained for disposal
training purposes.
They do not expect to reach final agreement next week but are aiming
to produce a framework for a final negotiation at the next meeting
scheduled for Dublin in May.
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