Treaty Breakthrough in Dublin: Cluster Bomb Ban Agreed

(Dublin, Ireland) After nearly two weeks of intense talks in Dublin, negotiating states informally agreed late Wednesday to ban cluster munitions. Governments will formally adopt the Cluster Munition Convention on Friday, May 30 2008, and it will be opened for signature on December 2 2008.

“With several crucial issues to be resolved these talks have been touch-and-go since the outset, but tonight we achieved our goal when government agreed in principal to ban cluster munitions,” says Mary Wareham of Oxfam New Zealand, coordinator of the Aotearoa New Zealand Cluster Munition Coalition. “The New Zealand government and public should be proud of the crucial role they played in securing this agreement.”

New Zealand’s Ambassador Don MacKay played a central role in the treaty negotiations by chairing critical side talks on the definition of a cluster munition, while civil society groups and members of the public were central to ensuring the success of the Wellington Conference on Cluster Munitions in February 2008, the final step in the process that led to the Dublin negotiations.

“With the strong definition contained in this treaty we will outlaw every type of cluster munition that has ever been used, as well as almost all cluster munitions in arsenals of the countries that are expected to sign the agreement,” said Wareham. “This is the most significant advance in disarmament law in over a decade; we are celebrating a major break through.”

Tonight’s provisional text will be formally adopted on Friday morning (at approx 11.00 GMT on Friday May 30), after delegations have had a chance to report back to their national capitals on the tentative outcome of the talks. The treaty includes strong provisions on all of the key issues: rejecting calls for a transition period - which would have allowed states to continue using cluster munitions and sets a maximum time limit on stockpile destruction.

A total of 126 government representatives have been part of the negotiations in Dublin, joined by more than 275 campaigners, field deminers, and cluster munition survivors from 61 countries. Wareham has played a central role in the Dublin negotiations, as the coordinator of the Aotearoa New Zealand Cluster Munition Coalition.

Contact: Mary Wareham, Oxfam NZ, +353 (83) 359-0130 (Ireland mobile)

Editors notes:

* Oxfam New Zealand coordinates the Aotearoa New Zealand Cluster Munition Coalition, a national network of non-governmental groups established in March 2007 to support the global campaign against cluster munitions. See: www.stopclusterbombs.org.nz

* Cluster munitions stand out as the weapon that poses the gravest dangers to civilians since antipersonnel mines, which were banned in 1997, causing more civilian casualties in Iraq in 2003 and Kosovo in 1999 than any other weapon system. Israel’s massive use of the weapon in Lebanon in August 2006 resulted in more than 200 civilian casualties in the year following the ceasefire and served as the catalyst that has propelled governments to secure a legally-binding international instrument tackling cluster munitions in 2008.

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