Message from Kate Moore on the signing of the Cluster Munitions Declaration - February 2007

 

I saw civil society in action in Oslo last week. I was thrilled when four Soroptimists from Norway accepted my invitation to join the Civil Society meetings on Wednesday. Members from over 100 different NGOs from around the world heard a range of speakers who all called for the banning of cluster munitions. I had been at the international press conference at The Oslo Press Club the previous day - and it was obvious that the world's press were there in force for all the meetings. This was an excellent sign.

 

 

 

Forty-nine governments represented at the Government Meetings on Thursday and Friday

Several NGOs (who form the International Cluster Munitions Coalition) spoke at the Governmental Meetings. The presentations by our members made a huge impact. Several governmental spokespersons (including the UK Ambassador) had talked about the fact that cluster munitions with 'self-destruct mechanisms of less than a 1-2% failure rate’ were used successfully.

 

A presentation from Grethe from Norwegian People's Aid included film taken by John Rodstead, the internationally recognised photographer and filmmaker from Australia. This showed a hillside in Southern Lebanon absolutely littered with dozens of cluster bomblets all intact, none had exploded, and all had the 'self destruct' mechanism. We had just been advised in a presentation from Jane's Defence (an authoritative British weekly magazine on defence issues worldwide) that the slightest movement - even the wind - could activate these cluster bomblets. During John's film it was difficult to hear his voice because of the noise of the wind as he filmed! I was with John as this film was shown, and even he admitted to being terrified as he watched - it was a miracle he wasn't killed.

The Nobel Peace Centre where Civil Society Meetings were held.

The figures in the snow are all cutouts of children - to represent the thousands of children who have been and continue to be killed by cluster munitions.

After all the lobbying we (the Cluster Munitions Coalition) did - and our success at the UN in November - we really hoped for about 30 countries to attend the meetings called by the Norwegian Government - 49 arrived!!!

The draft declaration had been on the table from day one, the final Declaration reads as follows:

Oslo Conference on Cluster Munitions - 22-23 February 2007

Declaration

Recognising the grave consequences caused by the use of cluster munitions and the need for immediate action, states commit themselves to:

Conclude by 2008 a legally binding international instrument that will:

(i) prohibit the use, production, transfer and stockpiling of cluster munitions that cause unacceptable harm to civilians, and

(ii) 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.

Consider taking steps at the national level to address these problems.

Continue to address the humanitarian challenges posed by cluster munitions within the framework of international humanitarian law and in all relevant fora.

Meet again to continue their work, including in Lima in May/June and Vienna in November/December 2007, and in Dublin in early 2008, and welcomes the announcement of Belgium to organise a regional meeting.

Forty-six States have signed up to the Declaration including:

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, Jordan, Latvia, Lebanon, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Mexico, Mozambique, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Peru, Portugal, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.

Only Japan, Romania and Poland refused to sign the Declaration.

Our work of lobbying must and will continue to ensure that all the nations that have signed continue to move forward so that we get the Treaty in force during 2008.

We will also be lobby all those countries that were not present, or have not yet signed up.

The next meeting of States Parties will be held in Lima, Peru on 22nd May 2007. We expect, because of the outstanding success of the Oslo Meetings with 46 countries now committed to a ban on cluster munitions by 2008, that many other countries will attend the Lima Meeting and 'sign up'.

The progress is very similar to the progress of the Treaty that eventually became the Ottawa Treaty banning landmines. Two of the co-chairs of our Cluster Munitions Coalition are Simon Conway (Operations Director of Landmine Action UK) and Steve Goose (Human Rights Watch Washington). Steve was a driving force behind the Ottawa Treaty and is absolutely fantastic - he is also married to Professor Jody Williams from the University of Texas, who received the Nobel Peace Prize for her work on the Landmine Treaty. The Cluster Munition Coalition and NGO community are in safe hands with Simon and Steve. The other co-chair is an amazing young Norwegian Woman from the Mine Action Section of Norwegian People's Aid - Grethe.

Kate Moore

Extract from the Coos Bay Nations push for treaty on cluster bomb without U.S.

By Doug Mellgren, Associated Press Writer:
Saturday, February 24, 2007 1:10 PM PST

OSLO, Norway - Forty-six countries agreed Friday to push for a global treaty banning cluster bombs, a move activists hope will force the superpowers that oppose the effort - the U.S., China and Russia - to abandon the weapons.

Organizers said the declaration was needed despite the absence of key nations at a conference in the Norwegian capital 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 children attracted by their small size and bright colors.

Of the 49 countries attending the Oslo conference, only three - Japan, Poland and Romania - rejected the declaration calling for a treaty by next year. Some key arms makers - including the US, Russia, Israel and China - snubbed the conference.

But even deeply skeptical nations like Canada, Britain and Germany, were swayed to join the Norwegian-led initiative in what activists hailed as a major step forward.

Jody Williams, an American who shared the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize for a global campaign to ban land mines, urged nations supporting a cluster bomb treaty to move ahead without the major powers.

“They should do it the same way, with countries that realize that there are 191 countries in the world, and not just three,” she told The Associated Press.

Last summer's Israel-Hezbollah war helped bring cluster munitions to the forefront of the international agenda. The U.N. estimated that Israel dropped as many as 4 million bomblets in southern Lebanon during the conflict, with as many 40 percent failing to explode on impact.

Mark Regev, spokesman for Israel's Foreign Ministry, said Israel did not use any munitions that were outlawed by international treaties or law. He said if the cluster bombs declaration evolves into a treaty, Israel would examine it and then decide how to respond.

Countries opposed to the Oslo conference say cluster bombs are being discussed under the U.N. Convention on Conventional Weapons.

In Washington, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the convention has produced a treaty the US has signed and forwarded to the Senate for ratification. He did not provide details on what the treaty says about cluster bombs.

“We have taken very seriously the international discussion with respect to the threat posed by unexploded ordnance to innocent civilians,” McCormack said.

He said the US has spent about $1 billion over the past decade to help clean up unexploded munitions in East Asia, Southeast Europe and the Middle East. He added, however, that cluster bombs “do have a place and a use in military inventories.”

Norwegian Deputy Foreign Minister Raymond Johansen, who co-chaired the Oslo talks, said the discussions were not intended to replace the UN negotiations, but simply to energize the process. “This meeting has been very successful,” he said. “Our goal is to reach the same number of countries as the land mine treaty - 153.”

Norway called for the Oslo talks after the latest round of UN negotiations on cluster munitions failed in November. Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere said the 1997 effort to ban land mines showed that waiting for the major powers to come around would take too long, and that other countries have to push ahead.

“We have given ourselves a strict deadline for concluding our efforts,” he said. “This is ambitious, but we have to respond to the urgency of this humanitarian problem.”

The declaration urges nations to “conclude by 2008 a legally binding international instrument” to “prohibit the use, production, transfer and stockpiling of those cluster munitions that cause unacceptable harm to civilians.”

It also calls on countries to take steps at a national level before the treaty takes effect. Austria, Belgium and Norway already have cluster bomb bans, and Bosnia has announced plans to enact one, organizers said.

The declaration said treaty talks would be held in Peru and Austria later this year and in Ireland in early 2008.

“Countries that we thought would walk away from these proceedings have decided to support them,” said Simon Conway, a delegate from Britain's Land Mine Action group. “With Germany, Canada and Britain on board, those who say this was just a couple of small nations are wrong.”

Steve Goose of Human Rights Watch said the major powers don't need to be involved for the treaties to have an impact, since say the point is to stigmatize such weapons.

“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. Despite rejecting that treaty, Goose said, the major powers have stopped deploying land mines and the number of civilian casualties has been cut in half since 1997.

In addition to the US, China and Russia, other countries that did not attend the Oslo conference included Australia, India and Pakistan.