Cluster Munitions
News Editorial,
Friends of Lebanon
“One cluster bomb can dispense bomblets across an area
as large as seven football pitches. Cluster bombs and unexploded
ordnance (UXO) kill and injure innocent civilians. They remain an
everyday threat long after fighting has ended. They are more likely
to kill their victims than incapacitate them. UXO injuries include
amputation, burns, lacerations, and blindness. Like landmines,
unexploded cluster bombs represent a lethal threat: they can lie in
the ground for years until a child or a farmer disturbs them.”
/Andrew Parkis, Chief Executive of The Diana, Princess of Wales
Memorial Fund
http://www.theworkcontinues.org/causes/mines_explosive.asp
To be frank, it is hard to be hopeful when reading the news these
days. So it is with a degree of scepticism that we welcome the news
of the UK signing on to the Declaration of the Oslo Conference on
Cluster Munitions (23 February 2007). Forty-six nations joined
humanitarian organisations* to conclude by 2008 a legally binding
international instrument that will “prohibit the use, production,
transfer and stockpiling of cluster munitions that cause
unacceptable harm to civilians, and [that will] establish a
framework for cooperation and assistance that ensures adequate
provision of care and rehabilitation to survivors and their
communities, clearance of contaminated areas, risk education and
destruction of stockpiles of prohibited cluster munitions.” (http://www.regjeringen.no/en/ministries/ud/Press-Contacts/News/2007/Cluster-munitions-to-be-banned-by-2008.html?id=454942)
As recently as October 2006, the UK Foreign Office stated that "The
UK believes existing humanitarian law is sufficient for the conduct
of military operations, including the use of cluster munitions, and
no treaty is required. The UK remains committed to improving the
reliability of all munitions with the aim of achieving lower failure
rates and leaving few unexploded ordnance in order to minimise the
humanitarian risk." It said this had been longstanding British
policy.(http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,1925561,00.html#article_continue)
This statement, in fact, is eerily similar to the stance still held
by the US. When questioned about the refusal of the US to
participate in the Oslo Conference, the US State Department
Spokesman stated, “We... take the position that these munitions do
have a place and a use in military inventories, given the right
technology as well as the proper rules of engagement." He said the
US military had made technical improvements to its own cluster bombs
and looked closely at how they were used. (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/low/europe/6390957.stm)
Others are also looking closely at how cluster bombs are being used.
In their October 2006 report “Foreseeable Harm: The Use and Impact
of Cluster Munitions in Lebanon 2006” (http://www.landmineaction.org/resources/ForeseeableHarmfinal.pdf),
the organisation Landmine Action concludes that the cluster
munitions used against Lebanon had no “significant impact towards
achieving the military aims stated by Israel during the war. The
massive and widespread use of cluster munitions across south Lebanon
does not seem to accord with any recognisable legitimate military
strategy” (p 8). The Senior Liaison Officer for the United Nations
High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Beirut, concluded: “When I
arrived here in Lebanon after the war I noted again with dismay that
cluster munitions seem to have been most effective against unarmed
civilian populations and are used more as a weapon of terror than as
a weapon of military supremacy” (p 37). Landmine Action’s overall
conclusion is that
“An international instrument including prohibitions on
the use, production, stockpiling and transfer of cluster munitions
is urgently needed. Given the further clear evidence in Lebanon
regarding the particularly problematic nature of these weapons it
can no longer be acceptable for user states [US and Israel] to hide
behind thin assertions that these weapons are ’legal’. If cluster
munitions are ’legal’ it is only because the international community
has failed to take the necessary action and render them illegal. If
the international community has a genuine commitment to the
protection of civilians from the effects of conflict such action
must be undertaken” (p 43)
Ironically, Landmine Action published a similar report in
November 2005, “Cluster Munitions in Lebanon”
http://www.stopclustermunitions.org/files/Cluster Munitions In
Lebanon.pdf. This report concluded that the existing Convention
on Certain Conventional Weapons was inadequate to police the use of
cluster munitions. The CCW had in fact for over 30 years “failed to
address directly the particular combination of problems associated
with cluster munitions and these weapons continue to be free from
any specific restrictions” (p 1). The cluster bombs delivered by
Israel in 1978 and 1982 were continuing, over 25 years later, to
explode in Lebanon. Civilians not even born during the 78 and 82
Israeli invasions were still victims to this hideous weapon (p18).
Its renewed use in 2006 has again prompted international concern.
It will take time to see the work of the Oslo Convention come into
fruition. But it is a start. The most immediate and the most
encouraging outcome of the Oslo Convention, however, is that such a
diverse group was able to work sensibly together for the better of
all. That the UK was able to take its cue not from the White House,
but rather from the House of Lords is, well, refreshing. In the
words of Lord Dubs, then, “This is a desperately important issue,
because it is a sign of our humanity if we do ban these weapons”
(before the House of Lords upon the 2nd reading of his bill on the
Prohibition of Cluster Munitions, 15 December 2006,
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld200607/ldhansrd/text/61215-0001.htm#06121565000003
)
Israel’s Deadly Legacy Continues:
The 34-day war against Lebanon has left up to 1 million un-exploded
(rocket/artillery delivered) cluster munitions. To this must be
added an as yet undetermined number of aerial delivered cluster
bombs. As of 14 Feb 2007, there are 847 confirmed Cluster Bomb
Strikes.
Mine Action Coordination Centre, Southern Lebanon
http://www.maccsl.org/War 2006.htm
"What's shocking and I would say to me, completely
immoral, is that 90 per cent of the cluster bomb strikes occurred in
the last 72 hours of the [Israeli/Lebanon] conflict when we knew
there would be a resolution, when we really knew there would be an
end of this."
"Cluster bombs ... have affected large areas, lots of homes, lots of
farmland, lots of commercial businesses and shops and they will be
with us for many, many months, possibly for years. Everyday people
are maimed, wounded and are killed by these ordnance, it shouldn't
have happened."
Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Jan Egeland
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=19670&Cr=Leban&Cr1
*49 nations were in attendance: Afghanistan, Angola, Argentina,
Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Canada, Chile, Columbia,
Costa Rica, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, Finland,
France, Germany, Guatemala, Holy See, Hungary, Iceland, Indonesia,
Ireland, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Latvia, Lebanon, Liechtenstein,
Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Mexico, Mozambique, Netherlands, New
Zealand, Norway, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia,
Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United
Kingdom. (Three declined to sign the declaration: Japan, Poland,
Romania)
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/fromthefield/459411/117224602779.htm
