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Posts Tagged ‘clusterbombs’
Cluster munitions bring harvest of death
Tuesday, September 22nd, 2009Jesuit Refugee Service/USA supports the effort to ban cluster munitions.
Titus Peachey, director of peace education for the Mennonite Central Committee in Akron, Pa., and a former coordinator of the committee’s Cluster Bomb Removal Project in Laos, has written an op-ed in The Philadelphia Inquirer urging the United States to join any dozens of other countries around the world which have banned cluster munitions.
Cluster munitions are small bombs, or “bomblets,” that are dropped from a large shell or bomb casing. Since many of these bomblets did not blow up as designed, they turned large areas of Laos into a vast, unmapped mine field. Even today, some 35 years after the bombing ended, an average of 300 Lao villagers are injured or killed by these weapons each year.
Over the past 45 years, the use of these indiscriminate weapons has extended to more than 25 countries. While millions of dollars are spent each year to find and safely destroy them, their repeated use has created an economic and humanitarian disaster.
In response, many government leaders have decided to pick up pens. In December 2008, 94 countries gathered in Norway to sign a treaty – the Convention on Cluster Munitions – banning the production, transfer, stockpiling, and use of cluster munitions. The treaty’s signatories include many U.S. allies that have cluster munitions. Regrettably, though, the United States has joined Russia, China, Israel, Pakistan, and India in refusing to sign it.
The effort to ban cluster munitions parallels a similar effort to ban land mines, which led to a treaty in 1997. While 156 nations have now signed on to the Mine Ban Treaty, the United States continues to resist, joining other major military powers in refusing to agree to ban land mines.
Read the full piece here.
Mines Action Canada seeks applicants to Youth Leaders Forum
Thursday, August 20th, 2009Mines Action Canada is pleased to announce the call for applications for the 2009 Youth Leaders Forum. The Youth Leaders Forum (YLF) will be held 28 November – 5 December in Cartagena , Colombia in conjunction with the Second Review Conference of the Mine Ban Treaty. It is open to women and men 18 – 30 years old who are active in the campaigns to ban landmines and / or cluster munitions.
The 2009 YLF is a component of Mines Action Canada’s Youth Leadership, Education and Action Program (Youth LEAP). The overall goal of Youth LEAP is to increase the capacity of civil society to work for the effective implementation and universalization of the Mine Ban Treaty and Convention on Cluster Munitions. The YLF will contribute to this goal by providing young women and men in key regions of the world with the skills and knowledge to be effective advocates in their countries.
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Millions of cluster bombs ready for destruction
Wednesday, June 24th, 2009
The new international convention banning cluster bombs is already delivering results as signatories plan the destruction of these indiscriminate weapons even before it has entered into force, said the Cluster Munition Coalition (CMC) today on the eve of a major international conference in Berlin. On June 25th and 26th delegations from more than 80 countries will meet in the German capital to discuss plans for stockpile destruction.
Since the Convention on Cluster Munitions opened for signature in December 2008 in Oslo, 98 countries have already signed and 10 have ratified it. The treaty will enter into force 6 months after the 30th ratification is deposited at the United Nations in New York. Early initiatives on the implementation of the treaty are very encouraging.
“As representatives from civil society, we are thrilled to witness the continued momentum behind the ban and the desire from many countries to relegate cluster bombs to history,” said Thomas Nash, Co-ordinator of the CMC. “This meeting in Berlin and the attendance of so many countries show that the treaty is more than words on paper. Signatories are determined to implement it.”
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U.S. urged to sign cluster bomb ban treaty
Friday, May 29th, 2009The United States government needs to sign the new treaty banning cluster bombs and become part of the international consensus against this weapon. Banning Cluster Munitions, a new report released today by Cluster Munitions Coalition members, shows how the prohibition on cluster munitions is firmly taking hold as more countries join the new treaty banning the weapon and hold – out states shift their policies in the right direction.
The U.S. is not among the 96 nations that have signed the 2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions, which was adopted on May 30, 2008, and opened for signature six months later. This treaty prohibits the use, production and transfer of cluster munitions, requires destruction of stockpiled weapons within eight years and clearance of contaminated land within ten years, and assistance to victims.
Pontiff urges nations to ban cluster bombs
Tuesday, April 7th, 2009Benedict XVI called on the international community to ban anti-personnel mines and cluster bombs.
The Holy Father noted the signing of the treaty banning cluster bombs took place last December.
“I would like to encourage the countries who have still not yet done so,” he said, “to sign without delay these important instruments of international humanitarian law, which the Holy See has always supported.”
“Moreover, I express my support for any measure intended to guarantee necessary assistance for the victims of these devastating weapons,” the Holy Father added.
Read more here.
Urge the Senate to Give Cluster Bombs the Boot
Thursday, March 19th, 2009National Call-in Day March 30th
When nearly 100 nations — including Britain, France, and Germany — gathered in early December to sign a global treaty banning cluster bombs, the U.S. was conspicuously absent. These weapons always end up killing more civilians than soldiers.
President Obama and Congress can fix U.S. policy. In fact, they have already started. In March, Congress passed a law permanently banning exports of nearly all U.S.-made cluster bombs. Now we need Congress to act to prevent any further use by the United States.
Call your senators on Monday, March 30, and ask them to co-sponsor the Cluster Munitions Civilian Protection Act, S. 416. This legislation would prohibit the U.S. from using any cluster bombs that leave behind an unacceptably large number of landmine-like “dud” cluster submunitions — small bombs that keep on killing. It would also prohibit any use of these weapons in areas where civilians are normally present — like cities and villages. Increased support for this legislation in the Senate will show President Obama that he has the public’s backing to sign this treaty and send it to the Senate for ratification.
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Take Action: urge U.S. to take the next step
Wednesday, March 11th, 2009President Obama signed a law Wednesday that will make permanent a ban on nearly all cluster bomb exports from the United States. Congress included the export ban in an omnibus budget bill that passed the Senate Tuesday night. This provision will move the U.S. one step closer to the position of the nearly 100 nations–including our closest NATO allies–that signed a treaty banning cluster munitions in December.
The legislation states that cluster munitions can only be exported if they leave behind less than one percent of their submunitions as duds, and if the receiving country agrees that cluster munitions “will not be used where civilians are known to be present.”
Only a very tiny fraction of the cluster munitions in the U.S. arsenal meet the one percent standard. This export ban was first enacted in a similar budget bill in December 2007, but that law mandated it for only one year.
JRS/USA urges Congress to take the next step and ban U.S. use of these deadly weapons. Nearly one in four senators have already cosponsored the Cluster Munitions Civilian Protection Act (S. 416), introduced one month ago, which would stop the military from using virtually all of the cluster bombs in its vast arsenal by applying this same one percent standard to U.S. use.
Do your senators support this bill? If not, urge them to co-sponsor today. If it’s unacceptable to export high dud-rate cluster bombs, then it’s unacceptable to use them.
TAKE ACTION! Write your Senator/Representative
Friday, February 13th, 2009Please write to your Senators and/or Representatives to urge them to co-sponsor the Cluster Munitions Civilian Protection Act. By doing so, you will help to protect civilians from inadvertent – but readily foreseeable – harm and urge the U.S. to live up to its humanitarian traditions. This bill would prohibit all use of cluster munitions in areas where civilians are normally present.
On Feb 11, 2009, the Cluster Munitions Civilian Protection Act (S.416) was re-introduced in Congress by Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.
Companion legislation (H.R.981) was introduced in the House by Representative James McGovern (D-Mass.).
Click here and write your Congress-person!
Restrict Use Of Dangerous Cluster Munitions
Thursday, February 12th, 2009Senators Leahy And Feinstein Introduce Measure To Restrict Use Of Dangerous Cluster Munitions.
Companion legislation introduced in House by Representative McGovern
Washington, D.C. –
U.S. Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) on Feb. 11, introduced a measure to restrict the use or deployment of dangerous cluster munitions.
“The human toll of cluster bombs is terrible. But the United States has been slow to take action to protect civilians from these unreliable and deadly weapons,” Senator Feinstein said. “Last year, Defense Secretary Gates unveiled new plans to prohibit the use, sale and transfer of cluster munitions with a failure rate of more than 1 percent – but he set a 2018 deadline. I believe that another decade of delay is too long to wait. In my view, our military forces should never use cluster munitions with high failure rates in any area where civilians are known to be present – and this legislation will ensure that this policy becomes law this year. Further delay only puts more innocent lives at risk and runs counter to America’s core values.”
Senator Leahy, who has worked for years to protect civilians from cluster munitions, said: “Anyone who has seen the devastation cluster munitions cause over wide areas understands the unacceptable harm they cause to civilians. Any weapon, whether cluster munitions, landmines, or even poison gas, has some military utility, but this is an important step to protect the innocent from these indiscriminate weapons. I urge the Pentagon to work with us by supporting this bill, and I urge the Obama Administration to review its policy with a view toward putting the United States on a path to join the Convention on Cluster Munitions as soon as possible.”
