Opinion | Editorials

End the pain of cluster bombs

Nations attending the Oslo summit should show more understanding and compassion

  • Gulf News
  • Published: 23:25 December 2, 2008
  • Gulf News

The pain, havoc and the lack of utter remorse exhibited by those who have used cluster bombs in the course of combat - or sometimes even out of it - should possibly be soothed when 107 nations congregate to sign the Convention of Cluster Munitions (CCM) in Oslo on Wednesday.

Of all those responsible so far, Israel has been one of the biggest perpetrators with their uncontrolled dumping of cluster bombs in south Lebanon in the summer war of 2006. It was the catalyst that prompted a handful of countries to call for a negotiation on a new protocol for the use of this weapon. The human toll that cluster bombs and landmines have been exacting through the decades should serve as an illustration to countries that are constantly making political capital out of it. It is time they showed more understanding and compassion.

Gulf News

Opinion Editor's choice
  • Russia, China complicit
    Russia, China complicit in Syria carnage
    By Fawaz Turki, Special to Gulf News

    By their double veto at the UN, they have chosen to back the Al Assad regime that is already wet spaghetti

  • Manmohan Singh and Yousuf Raza Gilani
    Two prime ministers in trouble
    By Kuldip Nayar, Special to Gulf News

    Gilani faces contempt of court charge while Singh encounters moral responsibility in 2G scam case

  • Russia's Prime Minister Vladimir Putin
    Moving towards honest democracy
    By Vladimir Putin, Prime Minister of Russia

    Russia needs to unbundle power and property and separate executive power from system of checks over it

Most people still consider spousal abuse as a private family matter and avoid getting involved.
What do you think?

Speak Your Mind

Is violence within a marriage a private matter?