ISRAEL HANDS OVER CLUSTER BOMB MAPS TO UN FORCE IN LEBANON

ISRAEL HANDS OVER CLUSTER BOMB MAPS TO UN FORCE IN LEBANON
New York, May 13 2009 5:00PM
The Israeli Defence Forces have handed over to the United Nations data and maps on the cluster munitions it fired over southern Lebanon during the 2006 conflict between the two countries.

The UN Interim Force in Lebanon (<"http://www.un.org/Depts/dpko/missions/unifil/">UNIFIL) received the technical strike data and related maps yesterday, and is currently examining and assessing the information, Farhan Haq, a spokesperson for the world body, told reporters in New York.

"UNIFIL will be handing over the data to the Lebanese Armed Forces," he added.

According to the UN Mine Action Coordination Centre of South Lebanon, the area was blanketed by cluster munitions during the month-long conflict in the summer of 2006.

An estimated 40 square kilometres of land became contaminated with hundreds of thousands of unexploded cluster munitions, which have killed at least 20 people and maimed nearly 200 others so far.

Cluster munitions have been cleared from the surface of about half of South Lebanon's known contaminated land, and about 150,000 munitions have been found and destroyed.

Mr. Haq noted that the UN has in the past repeatedly called on Israel to provide the technical strike data on the number, type and location of munitions fired in the conflict to help speed up the clearance operations and prevent casualties among civilians and mine-clearance experts.
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STATES MUST TAKE ACTION TO ENSURE ELIMINATION OF CLUSTER MUNITIONS, SAYS MIGIRO

STATES MUST TAKE ACTION TO ENSURE ELIMINATION OF CLUSTER MUNITIONS, SAYS MIGIRO
New York, Mar 18 2009 7:00PM

The pace of the ratification of a global pact outlawing cluster bombs must be accelerated to relegate the deadly weapons "to the pages of history," Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro said today.

Addressing an event at UN Headquarters in New York to encourage countries to sign the Convention on Cluster Munitions, she said the treaty will help to address the humanitarian, socio-economic and environmental damaged caused by the devices.

"We must step up our efforts so women, men and children can walk free of the terrible injuries these munitions inflict," Ms. Migiro said.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) signed onto the Convention today, joining 95 other nations, while Laos ratified the pact, bringing the total number of ratifications to five.

Thirty ratifications are required for the Convention – which opened for signature in the Norwegian capital, Oslo, last December – to enter into force.

The pact is the "first instrument of international humanitarian law to address, in a clear and straightforward manner, the needs and rights of victims of a specific weapon," the Deputy Secretary-General said, adding that it also emphasizes the key role of partnerships between the UN system and other organizations.

The UN Mine Action Team will endeavour this year to help remove and destroy cluster munitions and other explosive remnants of war, assisting victims in countries such as Cambodia, Chad, Laos and Zambia.

"We need to remove the need for such action," Ms. Migiro stated. "We need to consign cluster munitions to the pages of history."
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US: Cluster Bomb Exports Banned

(Washington, DC) - Legislation signed into law on March 11, 2009 by President Obama will make permanent a ban on nearly all cluster bomb exports by the United States, Human Rights Watch said today. The United States should review its stance on joining the international treaty prohibiting cluster munitions in light of this action, Human Rights Watch said.

"This permanent export ban is a major turnaround in US policy," said Steve Goose, arms division director at Human Rights Watch. "It brings Washington into closer alignment with international opinion on this terrible weapon."

Congress included the export ban in an omnibus budget bill (HR 1105) that passed the Senate on Tuesday. The legislation states that cluster munitions can only be exported if they leave behind less than 1 percent of their submunitions as duds. Cluster submunitions often fail to explode on initial impact, leaving duds that act like landmines and pose danger to civilians. The legislation also requires the receiving country to agree 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 US arsenal meet the 1-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.

"The passage of this measure is yet another indication that the president should initiate a thorough review of US policy with respect to cluster munitions," said Goose. "If it is unacceptable for foreign militaries to use these weapons, why would it be acceptable for the US military to use them?"

US policy on cluster munitions was last articulated in a three-page policy directive issued by Defense Secretary Robert Gates in July 2008. The directive described cluster munitions as "legitimate weapons with clear military utility." Under the policy, the US will continue to use cluster munitions and, after 2018, will use only munitions with a tested failure rate of less than 1 percent.

In December 2008, a spokeswoman for the Obama transition team said that the next president would "carefully review" the new treaty banning cluster munitions and "work closely [with] our friends and allies to ensure that the United States is doing everything feasible to promote protection of civilians."

On February 10, Human Rights Watch joined leaders from 66 other national nongovernmental organizations in signing a joint letter calling on President Obama to join the Convention on Cluster Munitions. Human Rights Watch co-chairs the Cluster Munition Coalition, which it helped found in November 2003. It is also a founding member of the United States Campaign to Ban Landmines and Cluster Bombs.

"The export ban moves the US one step closer to the position taken by nearly 100 nations - including its closest NATO allies - that have signed the treaty banning cluster munitions," said Goose. "A US decision to sign would certainly signal President Obama's commitment to multilateral diplomacy."

The 2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions was opened for signature in December. It prohibits the use, production, stockpiling, and transfer of cluster munitions, and provides strict deadlines for clearance of affected areas and destruction of stockpiled cluster munitions. A total of 95 states have signed the convention, including most NATO members and other close US allies. The Bush administration chose not to participate in the development or negotiation of the convention, which was modeled on the 1997 treaty banning landmines.

While the historical record is incomplete, the United States has transferred hundreds of thousands of cluster munitions containing tens of millions of unreliable and inaccurate submunitions to at least 28 countries: Argentina, Australia, Bahrain, Belgium, Canada, Egypt, Denmark, France, Greece, Honduras, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Japan, Jordan, South Korea, Morocco, the Netherlands, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Poland, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Thailand, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, and the United Kingdom.

Several of these states have joined the Convention on Cluster Munitions and are in the process of destroying their stockpiled cluster munitions. Cluster munitions exported by the US have been used by other states in Lebanon, Iraq, the former Yugoslavia, and Western Sahara.

Cluster munitions can be fired by artillery and rocket systems or dropped by aircraft and typically explode in the air and send dozens, even hundreds, of tiny bomblets over an area the size of a football field.