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Bulk of States Back Cluster Bomb Ban, Organisers Say
A key conference on cluster bombs ended Friday in Wellington with most of the 122 governments represented backing a draft treaty banning the deadly weapons, organisers said.
However, major countries such as China, Russia and the United States -- the main manufacturers of the munitions -- remain opposed to an outright ban and did not attend the meeting.
The five-day conference was one of a series held as part of a Norwegian initiative launched in February 2007 which it is hoped will culminate with the creation of a treaty in Dublin in May banning the weapons.
The conference was supported by the Cluster Munitions Coalition (CMC), a global network of 200 civil society organisations that includes the leaders of the Nobel peace prize-winning international Campaign to Ban Landmines.
The coalition said by late Friday, 82 states had signed the so-called "Wellington Declaration", which will allow further negotiation of the draft treaty to ban cluster bombs, assist survivors and clear land.
The declaration says cluster bombs cause unacceptable harm to civilians and their use, production and transfer must be banned. It calls for a framework so that survivors of cluster bombs are provided with care and rehabilitation.
New Zealand Defence Minister Phil Goff said he expected more of the states present at the meeting to eventually endorse the draft by the meeting in May.
"We anticipate the overwhelming majority of states that attended will sign up to the draft," said Goff.
Cluster bombs are especially deadly as they contain smaller bomblets, which scatter over a wide area and can explode decades after a conflict has ended, killing and maiming civilians.
Earlier this week the coalition accused nine governments that subsequently signed the draft -- Japan, Australia, Finland, France, Holland, Germany, Britain, Denmark and Spain -- of trying to weaken the statement to allow the United States to use the controversial weapons.
It said the US allies were concerned that if they signed the new treaty it would be hard for them to participate in joint military operations with other countries not party to it.
"Attempts by certain countries to dilute and insert exceptions to the draft treaty were unsuccessful, but will be considered in a compendium to the draft during negotiations in Dublin," coalition coordinator Thomas Nash said.
"The strong text of the treaty remains unchanged."
New Zealand is one of six governments leading the process, along with Austria, Ireland, Mexico, Norway and Peru, which is hoped will end with the signing of the final treaty in Oslo in December.
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16 Comments so far
Show AllWe need a president who opposes cluster bombs. That would be Barack Obama.
kathyodat
I read that while the Red Cross was pushing for a ban, that Senator Clinton wouldn't even support limitations, exporting them only to nations that would guarantee not to use them directly on civilians.
I also read that 98% of Cluster Bomb victims are civilians. The same report also stated that a large percentage of these civilian victims are little children, discovering unexploded munitions after their deployment... active duds.
Israel deployed them liberally in Lebanon. Just the facts here, no rant.
What do you say to something like that? I think I'm a fairly realistic, if progressive person. That vote offends me deeply. It is also offensive that I have this in common with the Ridiculous Right; a nearly cellular level distrust for H.R.C..
"The right hand doesn't know, what the FAR right hand is doing." Hillary Rodham Clinton
To paraphrase Adlai Stephenson regarding Richard Nixon, "He could chop down a Redwood tree and make a speech for conservation from the stump."
I don't want to double dip but I will add this. Regarding that quote, "The right hand doesn't know what the FAR right hand is doing?" I believe the right hand is FULLY COGNIZANT of what the FAR right hand is doing. Furthermore, the right hand is FULLY COMPLICIT.
Hillary Rodham Clinton is a Republican Drag Queen... I don't mean to be offensive here...just stating the facts...
Isn't Societal Karma a bitch...It will rear up and bite Amerikka in the proverbial ass for generations to come...
What does banning do? Napalm and phosphorus are banned, yet the US uses them. Torture is banned but the US does it. Attacking countries that have not attacked you is a war crime and banned, yet the US does it. Attacks on civilians and collective punishment are banned , yet Israel and the US do it. So what is the purpose of the ban? To establish a monopoly over the use of banned weapons (e.g.nuclear). I am not for that.
Cluster bombs are weapons of mass destruction and therefore, should be banned, no matter who loses money.
So true Lizard. At the same time, I at least want the world to know that our blood drenched government REFUSES to ban cluster bombs. Just like they REFUSED to support the world court. The world's nations will one day rise up against this attrosity we call Amerika. Gawd, I hate being an Amerikan. Homeland indead.
Perhaps we Americans are now better understanding why the British used to be (still are) so adverse to the use of the word:
B L O O D Y
After the Brits terrorized the globe for a few hundred years, they lost out to US imperialism. During those years perhaps the common Brits developed the use of the invective "bloody" to invoke all the dead from all of the wars, the blood that they knew was on their hands, but really were quite reluctant to acknowledge.
¿ How many Americans even have a clue of how Bloody we ourselves have become, even more so is just the last 20 years ?
In one way, it is a great time to be an American. Previous generations bought the myth. Maybe this one will break it and we can begin to integrate with the rest of the world, instead of trying to control it..
". . .the US allies were concerned that if they signed the new treaty it would be hard for them to participate in joint military operations with other countries not party to it."
Sounds a bit like the US is extorting its "allies," threatening that if they sign on, they'll receive no more military aid or subsidized arms shipments. Or am I just being paranoid?
"The world's nations will one day rise up against this attrosity we call Amerika"
So what will that look like? You think that a war like that will solve the problem?
It is the DUTY of the citizens of a country, not another country, to overthrow a tyrannical government, and if you think some world coalition coming in here and doing it for you is the solution you've already lost.
Non violent revolution could work with enough support. But it has to be soon or it will be too late. Watch out for those national I.D. cards. The police state has far worse things than cluster bombs for our own people, designed to control not to kill. It is far worse to be enslaved than to be killed outright.
National I.D. cards = amerikka's day of infamy coming to a town near you = better start heading for the exits...
"...How many Americans even have a clue of how Bloody we ourselves have become, even more so is just the last 20 years ?"
Bloody not enough apparently in the Disunited States of Amnesia!!!
Horrifyingly true SIMON HHH
¿ How much will it take ?
Ooh never mind, I know.
After 10,000 US sons and daughters, or perhaps even 40,000 - no more than that.
Of course we should ban cluster bombs, but a ban I'd really like to see would be one against businesses increasing their profits during wartime. That would almost certainly put a stop to war.
I highly recommend seeing the film "Bombies," about the legacy of cluster bombs in Laos. More info here: http://www.itvs.org/bombies/ In Laos, nearly every day people are still being killed from bombs dropped more than 30 years ago. Encourage your library to buy it, if it does not yet have it, or borrow it here http://mcc.org/clusterbombs/bombies/.