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Humanitarian Mine Action

Conference on cluster munitions was a success

24/02/2007: 46 countries have now committed themselves to a process that should lead to a convention banning cluster munitions in 2008. "This is a great step forward to prevent new victims and justice for the ones that have already fallen victims to cluster munitions,” says Henrik Stubkjær, General Secretary in DanChurchAid.

46 countries have committed themselves to:
1. Conclude by 2008 a legally binding international instrument that will: - Prohibit the use, production, transfer and stockpiling of cluster munitions that cause unacceptable harm to civilians. - Establish a framework for cooperation and assistance that ensures adequate provision of care and rehabilitation to survivors and their communities, clearance of contaminated areas, risk education and destruction of stockpiles of prohibited cluster munitions. 2. Consider taking steps at the national level to address these problems 3. Continue to address the humanitarian challenges posed by cluster munitions within the framework f the international humanitarian aw and in all relevant fora. 4. Meet again to continue their work, including in Lima in May/June and in Vienna in November/December 2007, and in Dublin in early 2008, and welcome an announcement of Belgium to organize a regional meeting.

46 countries have committed themselves to:

1. Conclude by 2008 a legally binding international instrument that will:

- Prohibit the use, production, transfer and stockpiling of cluster munitions that cause unacceptable harm to civilians.

- Establish a framework for cooperation and assistance that ensures adequate provision of care and rehabilitation to survivors and their communities, clearance of contaminated areas, risk education and destruction of stockpiles of prohibited cluster munitions.

2. Consider taking steps at the national level to address these problems

3. Continue to address the humanitarian challenges posed by cluster munitions within the framework f the international humanitarian aw and in all relevant fora.

4. Meet again to continue their work, including in Lima in May/June and in Vienna in November/December 2007, and in Dublin in early 2008, and welcome an announcement of Belgium to organize a regional meeting.

A ban on cluster munitions is within reach

“We are very pleased that the meeting in Oslo led to such active and positive steps towards an international instrument against these abominous weapons”, says Henrik Stubkjær, General Secretary of DanChurchAid, (DCA).

Even the countries that were hesitant on the first day of the conference - UK, France, Germany, Canada - decided to work actively in the Oslo process.

“We hope that even more countries will join in. This is a very positive development and a great step forward to prevent new victims and justice for the ones that have already fallen victims to cluster munitions!” Henrik Stubkjær declares.

Encouragement to the Danish government to support a ban

Denmark also made a positive statement in the Oslo process and has officially committed itself but Henrik Stubkjær encourages the government to support a ban on cluster munitions even more actively:

“We would like Denmark to be the government that is actively helping tne Norwegians, the Belgians and the Austrians pushing this process forward – as soon as possible.”

One of the means to do that would be a national ban on cluster munitions, according to Henrik Stubkjær:

“Working nationally will help in stigmatizing this unacceptable weapon internationally and create even greater momentum. This is the kind of weapon that takes a disproportionate toll of civilian victims, and the Danes should really point this out, even to our American allies. Belgium where we find NATO headquarters has already issued a ban on cluster munitions.”

The DCA head of Humanitarian Mine Action, Eva Veble, is on the board of the Cluster Munitions Coalition, CMC. She participated in the conference together with governments, the ICRC, and international experts.

Cluster bombs are complex weapons. A short time before the bomblets are released from the plane, the cluster bombs begin to spin. The canister opens at an altitude between 100m and 1000m. The height, velocity and rotation speed determine what area will be covered by the bomblets. Read more about campaigning against the use of cluster munitions: www.stopclustermunitions.org .

Public pressure on the states' commitment

“It once again became clear that civil society with willing governments can make a change even in the fora of disarmament and international humanitarian law. It is now important to keep up the public pressure on the states to actually carry out their commitments.”

“The burden of proof that cluster bombs do not cause unacceptable harm is on governments and not on NGOs to prove”, Eva Veble emphasizes. “What we know is that all cluster munitions used until now caused unacceptable harm and that these should be banned.”

As opposed to the viewpoint of the Danish government, DCA does not see self-neutralizing, self-destruct mechanisms as a solution:

“The cluster munitions used in Lebanon had a self-destruct mechanism that obviously bluntly failed!” Eva Veble points out.

“We as an NGO want to prevent another humanitarian crisis like Lebanon that could actually happen tomorrow.” Says Eva Veble. “It’s about time that governments everywhere start looking at the evidence from conflict areas and not just trusting information from the weapons industry when it comes to failure rates. Cluster munitions cause unacceptable harm to civilians in terms of the indiscriminate and disproportionate nature of the weapon and we need a total ban!”

By Stine Leth-Nissen, Head of Advocacy, stine@dca.dk