• Humanitarian Mine Action
• Overview
• What we do
• Read more

Humanitarian Mine Action

You cannot make a monster look like an angel

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 .

We are on the way to success

The change is here! All countries speaking today, also my not so good suspects, clearly agreed that there is a need for a prohibition on the cluster munitions. Some with reservations and different ideas of how to get there but none of them disputed the fact that an international treaty needs to be negotiated. All of them also agreed to the fact that this should be done sooner rather than later. Austria also joined Norway and Belgium as a country declaring a national moratorium on cluster munitions.

• Would it not be nice if Denmark had done the same?

With great presentations of people from different backgrounds, fellow NGOs, governments, experts, it was reiterated once again today, with no real arguments from the governments´ floor, that cluster bombs are inherently foul. Indiscriminate. Causing disproportionate harm to civilians. Weapons that had their fair amount of fixes and cosmetic surgeries, but they still look bad in the light of day. As the Lebanese representative stated:

• “You cannot make a monster look like an angel.”

So we might be there. Tomorrow will hopefully be the day when the governments officially agree to continue the Oslo process. To continue the process that will sooner, rather than later prohibit these monsters. Hopefully the deadline will be clearly set and be 2008. Some governments said 2008 is too early. Too ambitious.

But we need to be ambitious

We need to show to the people in Kosovo, Serbia, Afghanistan, Iraq and Lebanon that we will not allow the humanitarian disaster to happen again.

And what government can go back to their capitals tomorrow and say that they are not willing to work fast and quick on this? To ensure that the weapons are stigmatized so they will not be used again? Who will argue that they are protecting their big arsenals rather than the people who might fall victims to them?

The Nobel Laureate Jody Williams from the Internationa Campaign to Ban Landmines pinpointed it today: the duty of the state to protect doesn’t mean that it is to protect its arsenals, but to protect its people. So will our governments choose to protect us or the monsters?

The answer will follow tomorrow...