Reuters AlertNet Lite - Back cluster bomb ban or face stigma, say activists

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Back cluster bomb ban or face stigma, say activists

07 Dec 2007 18:16:36 GMT
Source: Reuters

VIENNA, Dec 7 (Reuters) - Countries refusing to support a ban on cluster bombs blamed for killing and maiming thousands of civilians should feel the stigma of the international community, organisers of talks to prohibit such munitions said on Friday.

Nearly 100 countries have come out in support of prohibiting cluster bombs at the Vienna conference, said Thomas Nash from the organising Cluster Munition Coalition (CMC). The Vienna talks are part of a series launched in Oslo in February, which aims to introduce a ban in 2008.

"We have made a lot of progress in some key areas, like victim assistance, a deadline for clearing affected areas and a deadline for destroying stockpiles," Nash told Reuters after the three-day conference at which representatives from 138 countries debated the text of a treaty.

"And those who do not sign the treaty need to be very aware what the international community will think of them," he said.

The United States has not voiced its support for a total ban. Others like Germany, France, Italy or Japan are trying to water the treaty down, calling for a transitional period before a full ban or for those munitions with a failure rate of less than 1 percent to be exempt, said the CMC.

Cluster munitions include a variety of weapons that disperse from 10 to several hundred bomblets over a target area. Between 7 and 30 percent fail to detonate immediately, so posing a threat to civilians for years after. The Oslo process is modelled on the campaign to prohibit anti-personnel land mines, which was awarded the Nobel peace in 1997 and resulted in the Ottawa treaty banning them in 1999.

Cluster bombs can be dropped from aircraft or fired in missiles or artillery shells and have been used in conflicts including Afghanistan, Vietnam, the Balkans and in Israel's 2006 war with Hezbollah guerrillas in southern Lebanon.

According to humanitarian organisations, 98 percent of cluster bomb victims are civilians, like Branislav Kapetanovic, who lost both hands and legs when trying to clear a stretch of land of cluster bombs in Serbia in 2000.

"You cannot explain what it feels like for a person who had arms and legs, who was active in sports, to suddenly have such an accident," Kapetanovic, a CMC spokesman, told Reuters.

"It changes your life so dramatically, it is beyond words."

Another conference is scheduled for February in Wellington, New Zealand, and a final one in May in Dublin. Campaigners said they aimed to get the treaty signed in late 2008. (Reporting by Karin Strohecker)

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Last updated:Fri Dec 7 18:15:18 2007