FAQs on Cluster Bomb Ban
What is the campaign to ban cluster munitions?
No More Landmines is a member of the The Cluster Munition Coalition (CMC). The CMC is a global network of 200 civil society organisations working in over 70 countries to end the harm caused by cluster munitions. Founding members include Human Rights Watch and other leaders from the Nobel Peace Prize-winning International Campaign to Ban Landmines which secured the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty.Launched November 2003, the CMC is campaigning for the diplomatic Oslo Process to result in a strong international treaty prohibiting cluster munitions. It is also working nationally to restrict cluster munitions through domestic measures such as a moratorium or a legislated ban, as Austria, Belgium, Hungary, the Netherlands, and Norway have done.
What are cluster munitions?
Cluster munitions are weapons deployed from the air by aircraft including fighters, bombers and helicopters. The weapon opens in mid-air scattering dozens or hundreds of smaller submunitions to the ground. Cluster munitions can also be deployed shot out of artillery, rockets, and missile systems on the ground. Submunitions released by air-dropped cluster bombs are most often called "bomblets, while those delivered from the ground are usually referred to as "grenades."
What's the problem with this weapon?
Cluster munitions pose dangers to civilians for two principal reasons. Their widespread deployment means they cannot distinguish between military targets and civilians so the humanitarian impact can be extreme when the weapon is used in or near populated areas.Secondly, many bomblets fail to detonate on impact and become de facto antipersonnel mines killing and maiming people long after the conflict has ended. These duds are however more lethal than antipersonnel mines; incidents involving submunition duds are much more likely to cause death than injury.
Who has used cluster munitions?
At least 14 countries have used cluster munitions: Eritrea, Ethiopia, France, Israel, Morocco, the Netherlands, Nigeria, Russia (USSR), Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Tajikistan, UK, US, and FR Yugoslavia. A small number of non-state armed groups have used the weapon (such asHezbollah in Lebanon in 2006). Billions of submunitions are stockpiled by some 75 countries. A total of 34 states are known to have produced over 210 different types cluster munitions. At least 24 countries have been affected by the use of cluster munitions includingAfghanistan, Albania, Angola, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cambodia, Chad, Croatia, DR Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Iraq, Israel, Kuwait, Laos, Lebanon, Montenegro, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Syria, Tajikistan, Uganda, and Vietnam.
Why is a ban on cluster munitions necessary?
Simply put, cluster munitions kill and injure too many civilians. The weapon caused more civilian casualties in Iraq in 2003 and Kosovo in 1999 than any other weapon system.Cluster munitions stand out as the weapon that poses the gravest dangers to civilians since antipersonnel mines, which were banned in 1997. Yet there is currently no provision in international law to specifically address problems caused by cluster munitions. Israel's massive use of the weapon in Lebanon in August 2006 resulted in more than 200 civilian casualties in the year following the ceasefire and served as the catalyst that has propelled governments to attempt to secure a legally-binding international instrument tackling cluster munitions in 2008.
What is the Oslo Process?
In February 2007, forty-six governments met in Oslo to endorse a call by Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Støre to conclude a new legally binding instrument in 2008 that prohibits the use, production, transfer and stockpiling of cluster munitions that cause unacceptable harm and provides adequate resources to assist survivors and clear contaminated areas.Subsequent Oslo Process meetings including in Peru (May 2007) and Austria (December2007) have increased the number of countries endorsing the Oslo Process treaty objective to more than 90 by the end of 2007. http://clusterprocess.org/
What happens next?
Following the adoption of a draft treaty text by 111 countries following the final negotiations in Dublin in May 2008 the treaty will open for signature in Oslo on 2nd / 3rd December 2008. However it is only once the treaty has been signed and ratified by 30 countries that it will come into force.
How can you help?
It is crucial that pressure is kept on governments to take the next steps in the treaty process and bring an end to needless suffering. You can still help to make a difference by signing the People’s Treaty.
The People’s Treaty is a petition that people across the world will be signing to make sure that as many states as possible sign the new treaty in Oslo from 2-3 December 2008. It is only six months between Dublin and Oslo to ensure that countries – your country – will be ready to sign and ratify the treaty so that it can become binding international law.
Click here to add your name and be a part of the most significant humanitarian treaty of the decade.
In addition you can write to your MP and ask them to back early signature and ratification. There is a sample letter that you can use – just click here to download the letter.
You can read the final text of the treaty via the links below:
ENGLISH: http://www.clustermunitionsdublin.ie/pdf/ENGLISHfinaltext.pdf
FRENCH: http://www.clustermunitionsdublin.ie/pdf/FRENCHfinaltext_001.pdf
SPANISH: http://www.clustermunitionsdublin.ie/pdf/SPANISHfinaltext.pdf
