Dublin talks seek global deal to ban cluster bombs
DUBLIN (AFP) — UN chief Ban Ki-moon called Monday for a "visionary" global deal to ban cluster bombs, as delegates from more than 100 countries opened a conference here aimed at outlawing the lethal weapons.
The 12-day talks, at Dublin's Croke Park Gaelic sports stadium, is aiming for a wide-ranging international pact that would completely wipe out the use, production, transfer and stockpiling of cluster munitions among signatories.
Ireland's Foreign Minister Micheal Martin, opening the conference, said: "Together, we owe it to the survivors of cluster munitions to ease their pain and give them hope.
"We owe it to humanity to ensure there will be no more innocent civilian victims of cluster munitions," he told envoys from 109 countries and 19 observer nations, largely represented by foreign ministry officials.
Dropped from warplanes or fired from artillery guns, cluster bombs explode in mid-air, randomly scattering bomblets -- ramping up the risk of civilians being killed or maimed by their indiscriminate, wide-area effect.
They also pose a lasting threat to civilians, as many bomblets fail to explode on impact.
The United Nations secretary-general, in a video message, urged delegates to agree a ban on cluster bombs to "help relieve communities from the hidden horrors of these weapons."
Ban said cluster munitions "should be prohibited", calling them "inherently inaccurate, particularly indiscriminate and unreliable."
"I hope you will be bold and visionary in your deliberations and wish you every success," he said.
Under the draft treaty, signatories would never use, develop, produce, acquire, stockpile, retain or transfer cluster munitions. They would also have six years to destroy their stockpiles.
It also includes provisions for the welfare of victims and for cleaning up affected areas.
Delegates heard from the Red Cross and from a Serbian cluster bomb victim, Branislav Kapetanovic.
"These deadly weapons destroy lives and communities for years after use," the former deminer said.
"The treaty obliges states to provide badly needed humanitarian assistance to that survivors like me can live with dignity."
Some countries, particularly Britain, are seeking exemptions, said the Cluster Munition Coalition (CMC), an umbrella group of non-governmental organisations.
"The political pressure is going to be very high on the UK," CMC coordinator Thomas Nash told AFP.
"If their allies like France, Germany, Australia, Canada and others sign up, we think it will be very difficult for the UK to walk away."
Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Japan and Switzerland are among other states seeking amendments -- which could take days to thrash out.
Some want exemptions on certain types of cluster weapons, more time to dismantle their arsenals, looser language on assistance -- for example in joint military operations -- or transition periods in which they could still be used.
The process, started by Norway in February 2007, has taken the same path as the landmark 1997 Ottawa Treaty ban on anti-personnel landmines, sidestepping the UN to seal a swift pact.
Ban supporters hope a treaty would stigmatise the use of cluster munitions by non-signatories, as happened with landmines.
Notably absent from the conference -- even in an observer capacity -- are China, India, Israel, Pakistan, Russia and the United States -- all major producers and stockpilers.
"I think it will mean a great deal" even without them, Martin told AFP.
"Given the scale of this, it ultimately creates momentum and a dynamic, there's no doubt about that."
The Dublin gathering aims to secure an agreement that would be signed in Oslo on December 2-3. Signatories would then need to ratify it.
