Georgia_WebThe Aotearoa New Zealand Cluster Munition Coalition (ANZCMC) is deeply dismayed at Georgia’s admission that it used cluster munitions during last month’s conflict with Russia.

In a letter sent this weekend to Human Rights Watch, the Georgian Defense Ministry stated that the GRADLAR 160 multiple launch rocket system equipped MK4 rockets with M85 submunitions was “used against Russian military equipment and armament marching from Roki tunnel to Dzara road.” In defending its use of a banned weapon, Georgia stated that the cluster munitions “were never used against civilians, civilian targets and civilian populated or nearby areas.”

The ANZCMC objects to any use of any type of cluster munition in any location because of the harm this weapon can cause to civilians during and after conflict. We’re disturbed that Georgia used M85 submunitions because when this weapon was last used two years ago by Israel in Lebanon its failure rate of 10 percent or more left large numbers of dangerous “duds” which continue to threaten civilians to this day. We urge Georgian authorities to take urgent measures, including clearance and risk education programs, to protect civilians from unexploded ordnance left by cluster munitions and other weapons.

In a letter to Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili, the ANZCMC has called on Georgia to renounce cluster munitions and join the Convention on Cluster Munitions when it is opened for signature in Oslo, Norway on 3 December 2008. This Convention prohibits cluster munitions and sets strict deadlines for the removal of cluster munition remnants and destruction of stockpiled cluster munitions. Georgia’s signature would represent an important acknowledgment that this crucial agreement enhances the humanitarian protections afforded to civilians.

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