A Safer WAR for civilians?
AP news - SECRETARY-GENERAL Ban Ki-moon announced on Tuesday
that the international convention banning cluster bombs has
received the 30 ratifications required and will enter into force on
Aug 1.
Cluster bomblets are packed by the hundreds into artillery
shells, bombs or missiles, which scatter them over vast areas. Some
fail to explode immediately and can lie dormant for years until
they are disturbed, often by children attracted by their small size
and bright colors. A bomblet can kill or maim someone within 10 to
50 yards.
The convention prohibits all use, stockpiling, production and
transfer of cluster munitions, sets strict deadlines for the
destruction of stockpiles and clearance of contaminated land, and
obliges states to support survivors and affected communities. Only
those countries that have ratified the convention will be bound by
its provisions.
Mr Ban said the United Nations received the 30th instrument of
ratification for the Convention on Cluster Munitions on Tuesday,
triggering its entry into force on Aug 1, according to a statement
from the UN spokesman.
The UN chief said the convention's impending entry into force
just two years after its adoption demonstrates 'the world's
collective revulsion at the impact of these terrible weapons' which
are 'unreliable and inaccurate' and kill and maim civilians long
after conflicts end, the statement said.
The group Handicap International says 98 per cent of
cluster-bomb victims are civilians, and nearly a third are
children. Mr Ban urged all countries to sign and ratify the
convention.