Nations Call For Ban Of Cluster Bombs

Forty-six nations adopted a declaration Friday calling for a 2008 treaty banning cluster bombs, saying the weapons which kill and maim long after conflicts end inflict "unacceptable harm" on civilians, particularly children.

Some key arms makers — including the U.S., Russia, Israel and China — snubbed the conference of 49 nations, while of those attending, Poland, Romania and Japan did not approve the final text. But organizers said the declaration was needed despite the absence of key nations to avoid a potential humanitarian disaster posed by unexploded cluster munitions.

Cluster bomblets are packed by the hundreds into artillery shells, bombs or missiles which scatter them over vast areas, with some failing to explode immediately. The unexploded bomblets can then lie dormant for years after conflicts end until they are disturbed, often by civilians.

Children can be attracted to the unexploded bombs by their small size, shape and bright colors, activists say.

As many as 60 percent of the victims in Southeast Asia are children, the Cluster Munition Coalition campaign group said. The weapons have recently been used in Iraq, Kosovo, Afghanistan and Lebanon, it said.

The U.N. estimated that Israel dropped as many as 4 million bomblets in southern Lebanon during last year's war with Hezbollah, with as many 40 percent failing to explode on impact. According to the Red Cross, dormant bombs in southern Lebanon have caused more than 200 deaths and injuries since the end of Israel's attacks in August 2006.

According to the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research, 33 countries are known to have produced over 210 different types of cluster munitions, including projectiles, bombs, rockets and missiles, and are stockpiled in over 70 states. The United States is the leading exporter of cluster munitions, having sold or transferred such weapons to 24 other countries.

There is also concern about stockpiles of early-generation cluster munitions which passed down from Soviet successor states, former Warsaw Pact nations or states that received Soviet military aid.

While the document is not binding, organizers and activists hope it will pressure nations into halting the use of cluster bombs by stigmatizing the weapons. Norway hopes the treaty would be similar to one outlawing anti-personnel mines, negotiated in Oslo in 1997.

"It is nonbinding. It is not a legal document. But it is a statement of political will," Steve Goose of Human Rights Watch said of the declaration, adding that major powers don't need to be involved for the treaties to have an impact.

In the decade since the land mine treaty was first signed, the number of civilian casualties have been cut in half.

"If you need proof that you can conclude a treaty without the United States, Russia and China, look at the land mine treaty," he said. Goose said even though major powers have rejected the treaty, they have halted the deployment of land mines [although the Bush Administration has reversed its voluntary ban and restated its prerogative to deploy such weapons, saying "landmines still have a valid and essential role" in military operations].

The declaration urged nations to "conclude by 2008 a legally-binding international instrument" to ban cluster bombs. The treaty would "prohibit the use, production, transfer and stockpiling of those cluster munitions that cause unacceptable harm to civilians," the declaration said.

It urged countries take steps at a national level before the treaty takes effect. Norway has already done so, while Austria announced a moratorium on cluster bombs at the start of the conference.

The U.S., China and Russia have refused to sign the land mine treaty and oppose the Norwegian initiative on cluster bombs. They did not send representatives to the meeting. Australia, Israel, India and Pakistan also did not attend. Those nations say the weapons should be dealt with in other arenas, such as the U.N. Convention on Conventional Weapons, known as CCW.

Before the meeting, activist groups feared some countries would seek to water down, or even squash, a declaration by insisting on a longer or nonexistent deadline. But Thomas Nash, a delegate from the Cluster Munition Coalition, said the first day of talks made it clear that there would be a declaration, with the 2008 deadline, even if some countries rejected it.

The declaration said work on the cluster bomb treaty would be carried out in Lima, Peru, in May or June; in Vienna, Austria, in November or December, and in Dublin, Ireland, in early 2008.