Today, the Aotearoa New Zealand Cluster Munition Coalition launched a campaign to step up pressure on governments to join the Convention on Cluster Munitions in the final 100 days before it becomes binding international law. Campaigners around the world are calling on all governments get on board the cluster bomb ban by signing and ratifying the Convention, which is due to take effect on 1 August 2010.

The Convention on Cluster Munitions comprehensively bans the use, production, stockpiling and transfer of cluster munitions, requires clearance of contaminated land within 10 years, destruction of stockpiled cluster munitions within eight years, and includes groundbreaking provisions for victim assistance.

Since it was opened for signature in Oslo in December 2008, a total of 106 countries have signed the Convention and 30 have ratified – among them are former users, producers and stockpilers of cluster bombs, as well as countries affected by the weapon.

“With so many states already on board this treaty, cluster bombs have been stigmatised to the point where nobody should ever want to use them again. There’s really no excuse for countries not to join,” said Youen Sam En, a Cambodian who lost his eyesight and both of his hands in a cluster bomb incident near the border with Lao PDR.

The countdown to the 1 August 2010 entry into force of the Convention on Cluster Munitions involves targeted campaign actions to encourage counties to join the Convention. Once the Convention has entered into force, it will become legally binding for all states that have ratified including New Zealand, which completed ratification in December 2009.

The Convention’s First Meeting of States Parties will be held on 8-12 November in Lao PDR, the most cluster bomb-contaminated country in the world. The New Zealand government has already confirmed its intent to participate in this crucial diplomatic meeting, which is open to all states, regardless of whether they have signed or ratified the treaty.

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