cluster bombs

Nowhere Safe To Play for Children in Cluster-Bombed Laos

XIENG KHOUANG, Laos - Laotian children chase each other through their school playing field, unaware of the 248 unexploded bombs buried a few steps away -- the lethal legacy of a war that ended three decades ago.

Remnants of the Vietnam War which ended in 1975 litter this tiny Southeast Asian nation, which became the most bombed country in the world after US forces dropped planeloads of ordnance to cut off Northern Vietnamese supply routes.

Posted in cluster bombs, Asia, laos

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 14, 2008
2:56 PM

CONTACT: Human Rights Watch (HRW)

Move by US, Others to Support Cluster Munitions Fails

Momentum for Signing of Ban Treaty Grows

GENEVA - November 14 - An effort by some countries to legitimize the ongoing use, production, trade, and stockpiling of cluster munitions failed today, in the lead-up to a comprehensive legal ban on the weapon that more than 100 other nations plan to sign in Oslo, Norway on December 3.

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Posted in cluster bombs, Human Rights, international law

Cluster Bomb 'Soon To Be Thing of The Past'

On 3 December, more than 100 countries, including the UK, will sign a treaty banning cluster bombs.

As a result Britain, by law, will have to destroy more than 30 million explosives.

The UK does not have the facilities, so they are being exported to Germany for disposal.

"I feel good to work for a good thing in the world and for peace," says Jorg Fiegert, production manager for Nammo Demil.

It runs a site in Pinnow in Germany which destroys munitions.

Posted in cluster bombs

Put the Bombs Away

In the fog of war, the use of cluster bombs just makes things foggier. Turns out Georgia - which always pleaded its innocence in the face of Russia's invasion last summer - used cluster bombs against its own people. According to a new report from Human Rights Watch, the cluster munitions were Israeli-made, which should come as no surprise since Israel used similar bombs against Lebanese civilians in July 2006.

Posted in beyond obama, cluster bombs

Movement to Ban Cluster Bombs Gains Momentum

Activists are urging governments to sign an international treaty to ban the use, production and stockpiling of cluster bombs one month from now in Oslo. The Cluster Munition Coalition says global momentum is growing to put an end to these weapons, which the group says mainly maim and kill civilians. Lisa Schlein reports for VOA from Geneva.

A Group of Governmental Experts is meeting at the United Nations to negotiate a treaty on cluster munitions. The agreement aims at striking, what it calls, a balance between military and humanitarian considerations.