Ahmad
picked up a bright metal object in a park in Lebanon
where
he was celebrating his 5th birthday.
It
was an unexploded cluster bomblet and
it blew
up in his face.
With
his family looking on helplessly,
Ahmad
died slowly.
Editing, re-reporting by Carolyn Bennett
Public pressure in 2008 pushed through a ban of cluster bombs. The United States of America not a signatory to the Convention on Cluster Munitions is now lobbying nations to quietly sign a new law allowing what more than a hundred nations have banned and in doing this sign a deathblow to increased thousands of children.
Beginning Monday, the European group Avaaz alerts on its website, governments
could agree on a new convention that again allows the use of cluster bombs that
kill children years after wars have ended. However, key governments can stop
this — but only if we “raise the alarm across the world [and] shame governments
to block this deadly decision.” Avaaz has petition text at its website.
The Cluster Munition Coalition asks you to ask what your country’s
position is on cluster bombs.
The 111 countries that have signed [sadly, the United States of America
again on the wrong side of history is not among them] and ratified or are participants
to the Convention on Cluster Munitions (CCW, Convention on Conventional Weapons)
are:
Afghanistan, Albania, Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, Austria, Belgium,
Benin, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Cameroon,
Canada, Cape Verde, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech
Republic, Denmark, Djibouti, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, France,
Germany, Guatemala, Guinea Bissau, The Holy See, Honduras, Hungary, Iceland,
Ireland, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Lao PDR, Lesotho, Liberia, Liechtenstein,
Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia FYR, Madagascar, Mali, Malta, Mexico, Republic
of Moldova, Monaco, Montenegro, Nauru, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua,
Niger, Nigeria, Norway, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Portugal, Senegal,
Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland,
Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, United Kingdom and Uruguay
In the May 30, 2008, Diplomatic Conference for The Adoption of a
Convention on Cluster Munitions, the signers agreed [excerpt] Article 1 - General
obligations and scope of application as follows:
Each State Party
undertakes never under any circumstances to:
(a) Use cluster munitions;
(b) Develop, produce, otherwise acquire, stockpile, retain or transfer to anyone, directly or indirectly, cluster munitions;
(c) Assist, encourage or induce anyone to engage in any activity prohibited to a State Party under this Convention.
“States are currently involved in negotiations which may lead to
dangerous developments in the global fight against use of cluster munitions,”
the Cluster Munition Coalition writes on its website.
“Under pressure from several military powers opposed to the Convention
on Cluster Munitions and its comprehensive ban — States Parties to the
Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) are attempting to introduce a new
piece of international legislation which, as currently drafted, would allow continued
use of cluster munitions, already banned
under the Convention on Cluster Munitions and proven to cause unacceptable harm
to civilians.
“Others, under pressure from a handful of large military powers who
refuse to join the convention, are avoiding their responsibilities under the
Convention on Cluster Munitions to ‘never under any circumstances’
assist, encourage, or induce any activity relating to the use, production,
stockpiling, and transfer of cluster munitions; to actively discourage use of
cluster munitions; and to promote norms that stigmatize these weapons.
“Through their silence, these states are sleepwalking into being
complicit in the unprecedented regressive development of International
Humanitarian Law and the re-legitimization of a weapon that cannot discriminate
between civilians and military targets [and causes] unacceptable civilian harm.“Is your country going back on its word?”
Convention on Conventional Weapons 4th Review Conference November 14
During the upcoming CCW 4th Review Conference in Geneva from 14–25
November, negotiations will continue with the aim of securing an agreement on
the basis of a draft Chair’s text of a future protocol.
“The CMC is concerned that, as currently drafted, this proposed
protocol would cause more humanitarian harm than good. It could perversely lead
to an increase in the use and production of cluster munitions and therefore
pose an even greater humanitarian danger from cluster bombs than the status
quo. Years of negotiations have demonstrated a clear lack of consensus on a
text that is weak, convoluted and full of exceptions and loopholes.”
Sources and notes
November 2011 conference
Convention on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Certain
Conventional Weapons Which May Be Deemed to Be Excessively Injurious or to Have
Indiscriminate Effects, 4th Review Conference of the High Contracting Parties (November
14- 25, 2011)
Date: November 14, 2011
Organization: ODA
Location: Room XVIII
Public / Private: Public
Interpretation: ACEFRS
http://www.unog.ch/unog/website/calendar.nsf/(httpInternal~Conferences~Daily~en)/B61F08FB6901A36FC1257879001FE336?OpenDocument
AVAAZ petition, Send leaders a clear message: stand up
for the cluster bombs ban and keep children safe.
Position can be signed at http://www.avaaz.org/en/cluster_bombs_ii_b/?fp.
AVAAZ will deliver the directly to delegates at the Geneva conference.
CLUSTER MUNITION COALITION statement continued
Strong existing legislation
“Since the negotiations began under the CCW, the international
community united under the Oslo Process to negotiate and adopt the 2008
Convention on Cluster Munitions. This Convention comprehensively bans cluster
munitions and is the standard by which all states should be judged.
“The high number of states that have signed, ratified or acceded to the
Convention on Cluster Munitions, now 111, is proof of the strong commitment by
the international community for this Convention to work. Since it entered into
force in 2010, the Convention on Cluster Munitions is already producing
significant results and has led to a global stigmatization of the use of
cluster bombs.
Going back on their word
“With a strong and comprehensive international ban in place, States
that have joined the Convention on Cluster Munitions must not be complicit in
the adoption of a new instrument of international humanitarian law that permits
ongoing use of cluster munitions, contradicting their exiting commitments.
“Furthermore, they must not risk weakening the international norm now
established against cluster munition use, or provide an ‘out’ for countries
that have not yet joined the Convention on Cluster Munitions by allowing them
to adopt weak standards while claiming to be meaningfully addressing the
humanitarian harm caused by cluster munitions.” http://www.stopclustermunitions.org/ccw/
CLUSTER MUNITION COALITION
The Cluster Munition Coalition is an international civil society
campaign working to eradicate cluster munitions, prevent further casualties
from these weapons and put an end for all time to the suffering they cause. The
Coalition works through its members to change the policy and practice of
governments and organizations toward these aims and to raise public awareness to
the problem.
CMC’s vision: “an end for all time to the suffering and casualties
caused by cluster munitions”
http://www.stopclustermunitions.org/the-coalition/
http://www.stopclustermunitions.org/news/
2008 Conference
Excerpt from: May 30, 2008 (Dublin), DIPLOMATIC CONFERENCE FOR THE
ADOPTION OF A CONVENTION ON CLUSTER MUNITIONS
Concerns excerpt
Convention on Cluster Munitions The States Parties to this Convention
[are] —
Deeply concerned that civilian populations and individual civilians
continue to bear the brunt of armed conflict,
Determined to put an end for all time to the suffering and casualties
caused by cluster munitions at the time of their use, when they fail to
function as intended or when they are abandoned,
Concerned that cluster munition remnants kill or maim civilians, including
women and children; obstruct economic and social development, including through
the loss of livelihood; impede post-conflict rehabilitation and reconstruction;
delay or prevent the return of refugees and internally displaced persons; can
negatively impact national and international peace-building and humanitarian
assistance efforts; and have other severe consequences that can persist for
many years after use…
Conscience — … Stressing the role of public conscience in furthering
the principles of humanity as evidenced by the global call for an end to
civilian suffering caused by cluster munitions and recognizing the efforts to
that end undertaken by the United Nations, the International Committee of the
Red Cross, the Cluster Munition Coalition and numerous other non-governmental
organizations around the world…
Signers HAVE AGREED [excerpt] as follows:
Article 1 - General obligations and scope of application
1. Each State Party undertakes never under any circumstances
to:
(a) Use cluster
munitions;
(b) Develop,
produce, otherwise acquire, stockpile, retain or transfer to anyone, directly
or indirectly, cluster munitions;
(c) Assist,
encourage or induce anyone to engage in any activity prohibited to a State
Party under this Convention.
Article 2 - Definitions
… “Cluster munition” means a
conventional munition that is designed to disperse or release explosive
submunitions each weighing less than 20 kilograms, and includes those explosive
submunitions. … *
3. “Explosive submunition” means
a conventional munition that in order to perform its task is dispersed or
released by a cluster munition and is designed to function by detonating an explosive
charge prior to, on or after impact;
4. “Failed cluster munition”
means a cluster munition that has been fired, dropped, launched, projected or
otherwise delivered and which should have dispersed or released its explosive
submunitions but failed to do so;
5. “Unexploded submunition”
means an explosive submunition that has been dispersed or released by, or
otherwise separated from, a cluster munition and has failed to explode as
intended;
6. “Abandoned cluster munitions”
means cluster munitions or explosive submunitions that have not been used and
that have been left behind or dumped, and that are no longer under the control
of the party that left them behind or dumped them. They may or may not have
been prepared for use;
7. “Cluster munition remnants”
means failed cluster munitions, abandoned cluster munitions, unexploded
submunitions and unexploded bomblets;
8. “Transfer” involves, in
addition to the physical movement of cluster munitions into or from national
territory, the transfer of title to and control over cluster munitions, but
does not involve the transfer of territory containing cluster munition
remnants;
9. “Self-destruction mechanism”
means an incorporated automatically functioning mechanism which is in addition
to the primary initiating mechanism of the munition and which secures the
destruction of the munition into which it is incorporated;
10. “Self-deactivating”
means automatically rendering a munition inoperable by means of the
irreversible exhaustion of a component, for example a battery, that is essential
to the operation of the munition;
11. “Cluster munition
contaminated area” means an area known or suspected to contain cluster
munition remnants;
12. “Mine” means a munition
designed to be placed under, on or near the ground or other surface area and to
be exploded by the presence, proximity or contact of a person or a vehicle;
13. “Explosive bomblet”
means a conventional munition, weighing less than 20 kilograms, which is not
self-propelled and which, in order to perform its task, is dispersed or
released by a dispenser, and is designed to function by detonating an explosive
charge prior to, on or after impact;
14. “Dispenser” means a
container that is designed to disperse or release explosive bomblets and which
is affixed to an aircraft at the time of dispersal or release;
15. “Unexploded bomblet”
means an explosive bomblet that has been dispersed, released or otherwise
separated from a dispenser and has failed to explode as intended.
*… Cluster munition does not
mean the following:
(a) A munition or submunition designed to dispense flares, smoke, pyrotechnics
or chaff; or a munition designed exclusively for an air defense role;
(b) A munition or submunition designed to produce electrical or
electronic effects;
(c) A munition that, in order to avoid indiscriminate area effects and
the risks posed by unexploded submunitions, has all of the following characteristics:
(i) Each munition
contains fewer than ten explosive submunitions;
(ii) Each explosive
submunition weighs more than four kilograms;
(iii) Each explosive
submunition is designed to detect and engage a
single target
object;
(iv) Each explosive
submunition is equipped with an electronic self-destruction
mechanism;
(v) Each explosive
submunition is equipped with an electronic self deactivating
feature;… *
http://www.unog.ch/80256EDD006B8954/(httpAssets)/CE9E6C29A6941AF1C12574F7004D3A5C/$file/ccm77_english.pdf
Petition post November 9, 2011 at http://www.avaaz.org/en/cluster_bombs_ii_b/?cl=1381876907&v=11085
http://www.avaaz.org/en/index.php
AVAAZ EMPOWERS
Avaaz, meaning ‘voice’ in several European, Middle Eastern and Asian
languages, is a global web movement bringing people-powered politics to
decision-making everywhere.
Launched in 2007, Avaaz claims the “democratic mission [of organizing]
citizens of all nations to close the gap between the world we have and the
world most people everywhere want.
Served by a core team on 4 continents and thousands of volunteers, the Avaaz
community campaigns in 14 languages; and takes action — signing petitions,
funding media campaigns and direct actions, emailing, calling and lobbying
governments, and organizing ‘offline’ protests and events — to ensure that the
views and values of the world’s people inform the decisions that affect us all.
“Avaaz empowers millions of people from all walks of life to take
action on pressing global, regional and national issues, from corruption and
poverty to conflict and climate change.
Avaaz’s model of internet organizing allows thousands of individual
efforts, however small, to be rapidly combined into a powerful collective
force.” http://www.avaaz.org/en/about.php
Convention on Cluster Munitions http://www.unog.ch/80256EE600585943/(httpPages)/F27A2B84309E0C5AC12574F70036F176?OpenDocument
____________________________________
Bennett's books are available in New York State independent bookstores: Lift Bridge Bookshop: www.liftbridgebooks.com [Brockport, NY]; Sundance Books: http://www.sundancebooks.com/main.html [Geneseo, NY]; Mood Makers Books: www.moodmakersbooks.com [City of Rochester, NY]; Dog Ears Bookstore and Literary Arts Center: www.enlightenthedog.org/ [Buffalo, NY]; Burlingham Books – ‘Your Local Chapter’: http://burlinghambooks.com/ [Perry, NY 14530]; The Bookworm: http://www.eabookworm.com/ [East Aurora, NY] • See also: World Pulse: Global Issues through the eyes of Women: http://www.worldpulse.com/ http://www.worldpulse.com/pulsewire
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