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Cluster of hope for a better tomorrow
They are referred to as the new landmines and they are about to be banned - thanks to the large amounts that were dropped on south Lebanon by Israel in the summer war of 2006.
- By Abbas Al Lawati, Reporter
- Published: 00:41 December 2, 2008
- Image Credit: Infographics and Photo Illustration: Dwynn Ronald V. Trazo and Jacob Hernandez/Gulf News
Tyre/Geneva/Dubai: They are referred to as the new landmines and they are about to be banned - thanks to the large amounts that were dropped on south Lebanon by Israel in the summer war of 2006.
Cluster bombs have long been controversial, but human rights activists and international organisations could not persuade enough States to formulate a convention to regulate their use for decades. Seventy seven countries now have stockpiles of billions of cluster submunitions.
But Israel's large scale dumping of the bombs during the war and the civilian casualties that resulted in its aftermath sounded an alarm for the international community. on Monday, 107 States pledged to sign the Convention on Cluster Munitions (CCM) in Oslo tomorrow (December 3).
Approximately 370 million cluster submunitions were used in Southeast Asia during wars between 1947 and 1979. That led to a small campaign by 12 States to prohibit anti-personnel cluster munitions, according to Peter Herby, head of the arms unit at the International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC). "That was the first proposal for limitation of cluster munitions", he said. "It was inconclusive.
"Each time there was a pattern and there was short-lived criticism, but this is the first time that this has come on to the agenda in a very big way," said Herby.
More than three decades since the start of the campaign, the issue has been catapulted back into the international spotlight: "It was immediately after the Lebanon conflict [with Israel] in 2006 that 5 countries in August 2006, and 25 countries in November [that year] called for negotiation of a new protocol on cluster munitions," Herby said.
The Lebanon war, he added, "demonstrated the worst-case scenario on how much contamination one can create in a very short time through the use of this weapon".
Dalia Farran, media officer at the United Nations Mine Action Coordination Centre (UNMACC) in Tyre, south Lebanon, agreed that the extent of non-military damage caused by the munitions dropped by Israel in the aftermath of the war, served as a wake-up call for the international community.
"The use of cluster bombs in the south is one of the worst in modern history. It has given new momentum to international organisations that have been trying to ban the use of the bombs for years," she said.
Major producers, users and exporters of cluster munitions are however not yet convinced about the ban treaty. Russia, the US, China and Israel have opposed the move towards the ban, while India and Pakistan are not expected to sign it either.
Major boost
The last-minute joining of one global heavyweights has, however, served as a major boost for the campaign. American-ally UK's announcement that it will subscribe to the ban process came as a surprise to some campaigners due to the country's status as a producer, stockpiler and user of cluster munitions.
The UK has used hundreds of thousands of cluster bomblets in Kosovo and Iraq.
British compliance has raised hopes that pressure would start piling on the US to join, even as Prime Minister Gordon Brown has indicated he would like to see the US ban the bomb.
This could be a challenge for Brown. The Bush administration ruled out entering the treaty and president-elect Barack Obama has so far not made any public statements regarding the matter. He did, however, support a Senate amendment in 2006 to protect civilians from unexploded cluster munitions. The amendment was defeated.
The US has seemingly responded to pressure by declaring a new cluster bomb policy which will see all cluster munitions with more than a 1 per cent failure rate destroyed by 2018.
Campaigners hope that the large number of nations that are expected to ban cluster munitions will apply enough pressure on the US never to use cluster bombs again - even if it does not sign the treaty, - as was done with the 1997 Mine Ban treaty which the US is yet to sign.
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