Nations sign Convention on Cluster Munitions

By Katherine Iliopoulos

Representatives from over 100 countries gathered in Oslo, Norway on December 3 for the Convention on Cluster Munitions (CCM) Signing Conference to sign a treaty prohibiting the use, production, transfer and stockpiling of cluster bombs worldwide.   The Convention, agreed in Dublin in May 2008, has been hailed as the most significant humanitarian and disarmament treaty of the decade. It is a result of the Oslo Process, an open and time-bound diplomatic process that included States, Civil Society, the International Committee of the Red Cross and the United Nations.

Norway - the first country to sign - contributed significantly to the drafting of the Convention. A research report funded by the Government of Norway containing a detailed technical analysis on the reliability of M85 bomblets used by Israel in Lebanon in 2006 was crucial in informing the technical discussions in the negotiations.

The second nation to sign the Convention was Laos, the country affected the most by cluster munitions. Today, 14 of the 17 provinces in the country have quantities of cluster munitions buried in the ground. There are still some 78 million cluster munitions remaining of the 260 million that were dropped by US aircraft during the Vietnam War to target North Vietnam’s supply route, known as the Ho Chi Minh Trail, in eastern Laos.

Afghanistan was a last-minute addition to the list of signatories, yielding to pressure by human rights bodies and cluster-bomb victims.

The new convention prohibits all use, stockpiling, production and transfer of cluster munitions. Separate articles in the Convention concern assistance to victims, clearance of contaminated areas and destruction of stockpiles.

The treaty – which does not apply to landmines - does not constitute a blanket ban on cluster munitions. The definition of ‘cluster munition’ according to Article 2 of the Convention is “a conventional munition that is designed to disperse or release explosive sub-munitions each weighing less than 20 kilograms, and includes those explosive sub-munitions”. The most important definitional change reflects a compromise reached in Dublin. The definition does not include munitions that, in order to avoid indiscriminate area effects and the risks posed by unexploded sub-munitions, have explosive sub-munitions meeting all of the following characteristics: numbering fewer than 10; weighing more than 4 kilograms; designed to detect and engage a single target; and equipped with an electronic self-destruct mechanism and an electronic self-deactivating feature. Effectively, the Convention allows for the development of cluster bombs with higher precision and self-destruction capability.

The treaty also provides for clearance and destruction in cluster munition-contaminated areas. The obligations of States Parties in this regard are enumerated in Article 4. Article 3 contains two exceptions to the Convention’s obligations. First, states-parties are allowed to retain or transfer a limited number of cluster munitions for the development of and training in cluster munitions detection, clearance, and destruction techniques, as well as the development of cluster munition counter-measures. Second, states-parties may transfer cluster munitions for the purpose of destruction.

The Preamble to the Convention on Cluster Munitions stresses the determination of states-parties to “ensure the full realization of the rights of all cluster munitions victims and recognizing their inherent dignity”. Article 2 contains a broad definition of a ‘cluster munitions victim’, including those who have also suffered “psychological injury, economic loss, social marginalisation or substantial impairment of the realisation of their rights”. Article 5 of the Convention obliges States Parties to provide assistance to victims in areas within their jurisdiction, including medical care, rehabilitation and psychological support, as well as to provide for their social and economic inclusion.

The United States, Russia, China and countries that together possess the majority of the world’s cluster stockpiles so far have not lent their support to the Convention, instead opting to address the humanitarian impact of the munitions within the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW). In 2006, Protocol V of the CCW entered into force addressing the ‘explosive remnants of war’, a broad category that encompasses cluster munitions. In November 2008, CCW states-parties failed to reach agreement on Protocol VI, a cluster munitions-specific protocol that includes clearance guidelines but much less restrictive prohibitions on future use of the weapons.

Speaking at the Convention on Cluster Munitions Signing Conference, Jakob Kellenberger, the president of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), said: "The ICRC is honoured to have been part of this extraordinary process and this significant development of international humanitarian law. Yet we realise that the true measure of its achievement will be how the lives of people and communities affected change in the months and years to come. The historic process, of which the signing of this Convention is a part, will only end when the use of these weapons has ceased, when stockpiles are eliminated, when contaminated areas have been cleared and when victims have been helped to rebuild their lives".

The Convention will not take effect until six months after 30 nations have officially ratified it. States parties agree to destroy their stockpiles within eight years of the treaty entering into force and promise to use their best efforts to discourage non-States parties from using cluster bombs.

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