Progress in the quest to ban cluster bombs

On the eve of the Global Day of Action to
Ban Cluster Bombs, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
released a report calling the impact of cluster munitions on civilians
a blow to development and urging the international community to support
a comprehensive treaty that decisively and effectively bans the use of
cluster munitions.

“We
are concerned about cluster munitions, both as a threat to the lives of
innocent civilians and as a major obstacle to the achievement of the
Millennium Development Goals,” said UNDP Associate Administrator Ad
Melkert.

The report, Prohibiting Cluster Munitions: Our Chance to Protect
Civilians, not only outlines the threats these weapons pose to civilian
security and economic development, but also highlights ongoing efforts
to clear lands that have been littered with hundreds of thousands of
unexploded bomblets.

“Cluster munitions are insidious weapons that litter fields and farm
land, homes and gardens, posing a long-term threat to the very lives
and livelihoods of civilians,” said Kathleen Cravero, Director of
UNDP’s Bureau of Crisis Prevention and Recovery. Cravero urged
governments to join negotiations to establish a new international
treaty banning cluster munitions that cause unacceptable harm to
civilians.

The negotiations, to be held next month in Dublin, are the
culmination of a year-long process to conceive a global convention
prohibiting the use, production, transfer and stockpiling of cluster
munitions that cause unacceptable harm to civilians. The ultimate aim
is to gain support from governments to ratify the resulting treaty.

Cluster munitions pose a great threat to civilian security, rights
and economic development. Yet a legally binding treaty addressing the
horrendous effects of these weapons -while prohibiting their use,
production, stockpiling and transfer- remains conspicuously absent.

And without such an instrument of international humanitarian law, the proliferation of cluster munitions remains unchecked.

When launched, cluster munitions disperse large numbers of sub
munitions over areas that can be the size of four football fields.
These bomblets are usually designed to explode upon impact, but they
often fail to do so, rendering the contaminated land unstable for
civilian use. The rate at which cluster bombs fail to explode upon
impact makes them particularly lethal to civilians, whose homes and
communities are turned into de facto minefields. Conservative estimates
set failure rates at five percent, but in reality they are much higher.

As cluster munitions are often shaped like balls and canisters or
are unusually shaped and brightly coloured, children are at particular
risk. In fact, one-third of all reported cluster bomb casualties are
children. In Vietnam, more than thirty years after the conflict, recent
data reveals that children make up an estimated 62 percent of
casualties.

Globally, cluster munitions have caused over 13,000 confirmed
injuries and deaths, the vast majority of which are concentrated in
five countries: Afghanistan, Iraq, Laos, Lebanon and Viet Nam. In
addition to claiming casualties, cluster munitions contribute to
household food insecurity by contaminating arable land and killing
livestock. They create health and hygiene problems by blocking access
to shelter, water and sanitation; exacerbate poverty and present
barriers to economic recovery and development.

UNDP has contributed to the demining effort, helping countries clear
land that can be used once again for agriculture, grazing or other
purpose. In the last ten years, the equivalent of more than 10,000
football fields has been cleared of unexploded cluster bomblets.

Yet, according to “Prohibiting Cluster Munitions: Our Chance to
Protect Civilians,” more than 30 years after they were dropped, cluster
munitions are still being cleared in parts of Southeast Asia, an
ongoing obstacle to vital development projects. The report also notes
that billions of cluster sub-munitions are currently stockpiled by more
than 70 countries worldwide. Acting now to stop the further production,
stockpiling, proliferation and use of these weapons will prevent even
worse problems in the future.

“I know from the experience of my own country, Cote d’Ivoire, how
terrible war can be for individuals, families and communities,” said
Chelsea football star Didier Drogba, a UNDP Goodwill Ambassador. “For
people who are injured or killed by unexploded cluster bombs, or who
live in poverty because they cannot farm their land, it is as though
the war never ended.”

Source: ANI