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The momentum behind the upcoming Vienna Conference, held from 5th-7th December, appears to be mounting with 127 countries registered. The event is the third meeting in the “Oslo Process”, a series of meetings aimed at producing an international ban on cluster bombs. Cluster munitions are canister bombs containing between a dozen and a few hundred small bomblets, and Handicap International estimates that 98% of victims are civilians.*
Among the larger countries attending the conference are Russia, Germany and the UK, although notable exceptions include the USA and China. The Vienna Conference represents a key moment in the campaign to ban cluster bombs with countries expected to make significant headway on important elements of the draft accord. If the summits prove successful and a ban is achieved, it would signal a considerable turning point in the history of international humanitarian law.
The “Oslo Process” began in February 2007, after Norway spearheaded a campaign to bring states and relevant NGOs together to formulate a legally-binding instrument to prohibit cluster bombs by 2008. Since then there have been two meetings, first in Oslo and then in Lima, both of which have made significant progress in making the ban a reality.
Handicap International has had a long-standing involvement in the struggle to ban cluster munitions. Its two reports, Circle of Impact and Fatal Footprint, have been instrumental in highlighting the devastating impact of cluster bombs on disabled persons.
Handicap International has had a strong presence at both previous conferences and, along with numerous other NGOs and UN bodies, will be in attendance again in Vienna.
* “Fatal Footprint: The Global Human Impact of Cluster Munitions”
The 5 November usually passes uneventfully, just another day in the lead up to the holidays and the rapidly approaching new year. This year however, the day takes on a whole new meaning. The 5 November marks the Global Day of Action to Ban Cluster Bombs, a day which seeks to highlight the immense human suffering caused by cluster munitions. Cluster munitions, weapons which release several hundred smaller ‘bomblets’ or submunitions when fired, have a devastating and long-term impact on civilians.
Handicap International, along with local partners, will be holding awareness-raising events in cities around the world, including Baghdad, Geneva, Nairobi, Sarajevo and Washington D.C. With the work of other organisations and campaigners exhibitions, film screenings, marches, press conferences and various other events will take place in a total of 40 countries worldwide.
A joint appeal will be launched by the United Nations, Cluster Munitions Coalition, and the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund in support of the ban treaty with an advertising campaign featured in several major newspapers. In the UK these papers include The Guardian, the International Herald Tribune, The Daily Telegraph, The Times, and the Financial Times.
While raising public awareness of these inhumane weapons, the day’s events are also a means of calling on governments to attend the Vienna Conference on Cluster Munitions. Held from the 5 – 7 December, the Vienna Conference is the next step towards a global treaty banning cluster bombs. The public awareness and support raised on the Global Day of Action to Ban Cluster Bombs is crucial to the success of this future ban.
The European Parliament has adopted a joint resolution entitled "Towards a Global Treaty to Ban All Cluster Munitions", reaffirming the need to speedily adopt a comprehensive international ban on these deadly weapons. The affirmative vote, held on 25 October 2007, calls on all EU Member States to adopt national measures that fully ban the use, production, export ant stockpiling of cluster bombs. Similarly, it calls for an immediate moratorium on using, investing in, stockpiling, producing, transferring or exporting cluster munitions until a binding international treaty has been negotiated.
The crucial issue of victim assistance and munitions cleanup was also addressed. The resolution calls on all States which have used cluster bombs to accept responsibility for clearance of these munitions. This notably includes keeping accurate records of where such munitions have been used, key to helping clearance efforts following a conflict. Additionally, the resolution calls on all Member States which have used cluster munitions to urgently increase financial assistance to populations affected by these unexploded weapons.
In December States will gather in Vienna for the latest round of negotiations aimed at creating an international treaty to ban cluster bombs. This will be the third major meeting in the Oslo process, a series of meetings which aims to achieve an international ban on cluster bombs by 2008.
In the lead up to this latest meeting public pressure is key to bringing more States to the negotiating table, while helping to ensure the creation of an effective and comprehensive treaty. To date 82 countries have signed onto the Oslo process.
Support a ban and help ensure the meeting in Vienna is a success by signing the petition calling for:
- A ban on the production, use and transfer of cluster bombs
- A commitment from the UK government in favour of an international agreement on this ban
- The destruction of any existing stocks
To date, over 330,000 people worldwide have signed the petition against cluster bombs. Add your voice and make a difference!
Twenty-two states affected by cluster bombs gathered in Belgrade, Serbia on 3-4 October to strengthen their ongoing role in working towards an international ban on cluster bombs. The conference, hosted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Serbia, discussed the need for international assistance in clearance and victim assistance, while challenging States to place the views of affected countries at the heart of future negotiations.
Victims of cluster bombs from various countries joined the official delegates in calling for effective victim support. “I want a strong treaty that not only bans cluster munitions but protects victims as well” said Firoz Ali Alizada, Advocacy Officer for Handicap International in Afghanistan and a cluster bomb victim. “We the survivors are not only here to advocate for our own rights, but also to safeguard the lives of countless people who are not yet injured.”
The conference also focused on the risk of cluster bombs proliferation. At least 75 countries currently stockpile billions of sub-munitions. The parties present at Belgrade vocalised their very real concern that the use of these stockpiles would lead to nothing less than a humanitarian disaster.
The states present at the conference included Afghanistan, Albania, Angola, Azerbaijan, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Cambodia, Chad, DR Congo, Croatia, Ethiopia, Guinea Bissau, Iraq, Kuwait, Laos, Lebanon, Montenegro, Serbia, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Tajikistan, Uganda, Vietnam, Yemen.
The Belgrade conference is part of a series of meetings in the so-called Oslo Process, which aims to conclude an international treaty banning cluster bombs by 2008. A European regional meeting will take place on 30 October, followed by an Arab League members conference planned for 4-5 November. In December, the Vienna conference will host all countries committed to taking the next step towards an international ban.
For additional documents from to the Belgrade conference please visit the Cluster Munitions Coalition page relating to the event.
Why is this conference so important for Handicap International ?
I think that this conference is not only important for Handicap International, but also for communities of affected countries. We work with them and we have responsibilities toward them. It’s because we have those responsibilities to, and contacts with, these countries that we have legitimacy to be involved in this campaign, and previously in the campaign against landmines.
This conference is a part of the same process as when we carry out surgery or fit prostheses, clear explosive remnants of war or do any work for the improvement of the lives of damaged communities. This campaign is a logical extension of our involvement in the field. This involvement gives us direct contact with “ordinary people”, in addition to our interaction with representatives of theUN, governments or international organizations. Very few of those ordinary people have the opportunity to address their own government and much less to engage with other countries which use or stockpile cluster munitions. Handicap International has the opportunity, and the duty, to be their voice. That’s really the most important reason for our presence in Lima this week.
This conference is also the opportunity for Handicap International to speak about its new report. What’s the link between it and the debates which will proceed during these 3 days?
It’s not enough for us to come and to meet with governments with only the argument that “we are right because we are Handicap International”: we need to have irrefutable evidence to support our arguments.
Circle of impact and previously Fatal Footprint are very important because they are the best means of providing evidence of the damage done by cluster munitions to people who are very often the most vulnerable and the poorest in their communities. The most important aspect of this report is that it brings human proof.
Very often governments want to focus debates on technical aspects, because they feel that is where they have competence which adds strength to their arguments. In opposition to this kind of technocratic position, the voice of Handicap International is a humanitarian voice. We must never be embarrassed to express human feelings. Because through them we can prove the disproportionate impact of cluster munitions.
The vast majority of cluster bomb casualties occur while victims are carrying out their daily livelihood activities, according to Circle of Impact: The Fatal Footprint of Cluster Munitions on People and Communities. This groundbreaking report by Handicap International documents the lasting economic and social harm these weapons bring upon communities, adversely impacting families for decades to come.
It is clear from the report findings that the 440 million submunitions dropped since 1965 have had both immediate and long-lasting consequences for civilians. An estimated 22-132 million of these devices remain unexploded, turning the homes and crucial social areas of the people living in affected areas into de facto minefields. As men and boys are the traditional earners and the majority of casualties, the economic loss for both the short term and the distant future cannot be underestimated.
Fatal Footprint: The Global Human Impact of Cluster Munitions, a preliminary report released in November 2006, found that 98% of recorded cluster bomb casualties are civilians. The final version of this report not only confirms this startling fact, but also shows that these casualties occur while people carry out their daily livelihood activities in familiar places.
Around the world, the way in which cluster bomb victims are injured or killed reflects their livelihood activities. In Afghanistan boys between five and fourteen who are tending animals are most likely to become cluster munitions casualties. In Laos over 1,000 people were killed by submunitions while weeding or sowing crops in their own fields. Such trends are common across all 24 countries examined in the report.
In many cases people knowingly enter contaminated areas out of economic necessity. In southern Lebanon cluster munitions contaminate approximately 90% of the land used for farming. The contamination of essential land is reflected in the rise of cluster bomb casualties from two per year prior to 2006 to two per day in the months following the July-August 2006 conflict with Israel.
In Iraq, the repeated use of cluster bombs has left a devastating legacy that continues to severely restrict the lives of its people. More than 4,000 civilians have been killed or injured by failed cluster munitions since the end of the Gulf War in 1991, with 60% of post-strike casualties being children. Today, in the south and south-central parts of the country, the vast majority of people continue to report blocked access to essential agricultural (88%) and pasture land (92%) due to cluster munitions. This contamination of land crucial to family income has meant that nearly 46% of the recent casualties in the region have been the breadwinners of their family.
“The victims of cluster bombs are young people going about their day trying to make a living, families returning to their homes after conflict and children playing” says Samantha Rennie, Director of Handicap International UK. “Yet this report clearly shows the consequences of cluster bombs go far beyond these individual victims.”
Handicap International’s report comes just one week before States gather in Lima, Peru (23-25 May), to continue to discuss a draft text of a new treaty to ban cluster munitions. Since the failure of the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW), this past February’s Oslo Process has seen 46 countries, including the UK, sign onto an initiative towards a prohibition on cluster munitions.
Rae McGrath, International Spokesperson on Cluster Munitions for the Handicap International network, adds "Circle of Impact should remove any lingering doubt which governments may have regarding the disproportionate nature of cluster munitions. It is an offence against all humanitarian norms to continue using these weapons with such evidence of their impact available".
Cluster bombs, weapons that release several hundred smaller ‘bomblets’ when fired, pose an unacceptable danger to civilians both during and long after a conflict. These ‘bomblets’ often fail to explode as they are spread over an area at least the size of several football pitches, creating a highly lethal footprint. In March 2007 the UK banned ‘dumb’ cluster bombs, while retaining the right to use the M85 model.
On 22 March a series of blasts occurred at a military armoury killing 101 people and injuring close to 500. Rockets and artillery shells rained down on populated areas, some of them exploding in people's homes. About 20 tonnes of military equipment, some of it dating back to the country's civil war in the 1970s and 1980s, was stored at the site. After the explosion of the arms depot it was discovered that the force of the blast had scattered unexploded munitions across the city.
Handicap International recognized the danger to the local population and immediately brought in an explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) team to assist the affected areas. Thus far, 122 sites have been inspected and 139 unexploded ordinances have been identified. Additionally, 57 community workers have been trained and have immediately begun alerting and educating the local population of the danger. Participating community workers are members of the Save the Children, Rede Came, Reencontro and the Mozambique Red Cross organisations.
Present in Mozambique since 1986, Handicap International has a long history of working with local populations. Handicap International is currently operating in the three central provinces of Inhambane, Sofala and Manica. To assure the best use of its teams and resources in the area of demining, Handicap International coordinates with and supports the National Demining Institute of Mozambique (IND). These demining and EOD teams deal with the removal and de-activation of explosive devices such as unexploded bombs, mortars and isolated landmines.
The UK Government has announced that it will cease the use of “dumb” cluster munitions, effective immediately. The Government however has said that it will retain the option to use “smart” cluster bombs, such as M85 bombs, used in large numbers in Lebanon in 2006.
While Handicap International welcomes the move, it is hoped that this will be just the first step towards a more comprehensive ban on all types of cluster munitions. Handicap International’s position has always been that all cluster munitions, regardless of the method of their use or the technology involved in their production, are unacceptable and inhumane. Technological changes to these weapons, such as self-destruct mechanisms and fuse improvements, fail to address the fundamental fact that cluster bombs indiscriminately harm and kill civilians.
“As the recent conflict in Lebanon has shown, these weapons, regardless of whether they are ‘smart’ or ‘dumb’, kill and maim huge numbers of civilians” Samantha Rennie, Director of Handicap International UK says. The Handicap International report Fatal Footprint, published in November 2006, revealed that civilians constitute 98 % of all recorded cluster submunitions casualties.
The announcement of a ban by Defence Secretary Des Browne, comes just a month after the UK joined 45 other countries in the first round of negotiations of the Oslo Conference on Cluster Munitions (OCCM), a process aimed at producing an international ban on cluster bombs. While the UK supports the OCCM, the ambiguity of its declaration raises questions as to how comprehensive a ban the UK will ultimately agree to.
Writing to Margaret Beckett, the Foreign Secretary, and Hilary Benn, the International Development secretary, Browne says the decision for a ban was made on humanitarian grounds. Handicap International calls on the UK Government and all other states to fulfil this commitment to humanitarian concerns and enact a comprehensive ban on all cluster munitions.
The UK’s support for the first step in the international process towards a ban on cluster bombs came as an encouraging and surprising end to the start of the Oslo conference. The Oslo Conference on Cluster Munitions (OCCM), a process aimed at producing an international ban on cluster bombs, held its first round of negotiations on the 22-23 February. Despite the progress made by the UK’s approval however, the ambiguity of the final declaration draws the nature of the UK’s support into question.
The resolution that was agreed upon calls for a legally binding international instrument by 2008 that will, “prohibit the use, production, transfer and stockpiling of clustermunitions that cause unacceptable harm to civilians.” While the UK supports this declaration, the presence of the term “unacceptable” raises questions as to how comprehensive a ban the UK will later agree to. In fact, the Foreign Office has strongly denied Britain has changed its stance on cluster bombs or would now back a full ban on these weapons. While the UK government supports the scrapping of so-called “dumb” cluster bombs, it continues to argue that more modern cluster munitions are “a legitimate weapon when used in accordance with international humanitarian law”.
Handicap International’s stance has always been that all cluster munitions, regardless of the method of their use or the technology involved in their production, are unacceptable and inhumane. Technological changes to these weapons, such as self-destruct mechanisms and fuse improvements, fail to address the fundamental fact that cluster bombs indiscriminately harm civilians.
Handicap International hopes that the UK along with other countries will use the momentum from the first phase of the Oslo conference to create a comprehensive and meaningful ban on cluster munitions. As Samantha Rennie, Director of Handicap International UK comments, "All countries should join negotiations within the Oslo process and work without any reservations for a treaty that really protects civilians, families and communities affected by cluster munitions.”
Handicap International is delighted that Norway’s initiative was a success. Norway put the Oslo process on the diplomatic map, aiming to achieve a Cluster Munition Ban treaty by 2008. However, Handicap International, co-founder of the Cluster Munition Coalition, deplores the ambiguity of the final declaration, which implies that certain cluster munitions would not be covered by a ban.
With the support of 46 out of the 49 states present, the final declaration closing the intense two-day conference gives way to a new diplomatic process. This latter is independent from the 1980 conference on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW), where the issue of the human consequences of cluster munitions had been failing to reach the necessary consensus over the past five years.
While applauding this success, Handicap International still regrets the ambiguous formulation of the states’ final goal: the aim is to ban cluster munitions that cause unacceptable harm to civilians. This distinction will enable states involved to argue about the definition of what is and is not acceptable.
The next negotiations will be crucial to know how far the states are ready to go in a ban. The signatories have agreed upon a demanding schedule, with meetings in Peru in May, Austria in November and Ireland in early 2008. Belgium also proposed the organisation of a regional conference for the 27 members of the European Union.
At the beginning of the conference, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and Switzerland were reluctant to agree on a process outside the CCW framework. However, they were progressively talked into it by the strong arguments of civil society, and by the ever growing support of the participating countries, especially those which were affected by cluster bombs, such as Lebanon, Serbia, Croatia and Bosnia.
The Norwegian diplomatic know-how and the support of Mexico, Ireland, New Zealand, Belgium and Austria made it possible to avoid drifting from the initial objective, which was to reach a significant ban. Obviously, the massive indiscriminate bombings in Southern Lebanon as well as the presence of survivors of cluster munitions’ accidents, who met with the delegations, had a great impact leading to a final quasi-consensus.
On Friday, Handicap International was invited to provide each delegation with the list of the 300,000 people who signed the petition in support of a complete ban on cluster munitions.
Oslo Conference on Cluster Munitions
22 – 23 February 2007
Declaration
A group of States, United Nations Organisations, the International Committee of the Red Cross, the Cluster Munitions Coalition and other humanitarian organisations met in Oslo on 22 – 23 February 2007 to discuss how to effectively address the humanitarian problems caused by cluster munitions.
Recognising the grave consequences caused by the use of cluster munitions and the need for immediate action, states commit themselves to:
1. Conclude by 2008 a legally binding international instrument that will:
(i) prohibit the use, production, transfer and stockpiling of clustermunitions that cause unacceptable harm to civilians, and
(ii) establish a framework for cooperation and assistance that ensures adequate provision of care and rehabilitation to survivors and their communities, clearance of contaminated areas, risk education and destruction of stockpiles of prohibited cluster munitions.
2. Consider taking steps at the national level to address these problems.
3. Continue to address the humanitarian challenges posed by cluster munitions within the framework of international humanitarian law and in all relevant fora.
4. Meet again to continue their work, including in Lima in May/June and Vienna in November/December 2007, and in Dublin in early 2008, and welcome the announcement of Belgium to organise a regional meeting.
Oslo, 23 February 2007
Handicap International and numerous other non-governmental organizations and UN bodies will attend The Oslo Conference on Cluster Munitions (OCCM) this week to inform and draw attention to this historical event.
Parallel to the government meeting, the Cluster Munition Coalition (CMC), of which Handicap International is a co-founder, is organising an international Civil Society Forum on Cluster Munitions, as well as a series of events for non-governmental organisations, campaigners, the public and the media. These events will be held from Tuesday 20 to Friday 23 February 2007.
Panelists at the Civil Society Forum on Cluster Munitions will include cluster bomb victims from Lebanon and Serbia, Ms. Jody Williams, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1997 on behalf of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, Mr. Erik Solheim, the Norwegian Minister of Development, and Ms. Luisa Morgantini, the Deputy President of the European Parliament. On this occasion, Handicap International will present a petition containing the 300,000 signatures that have been gathered across Europe in support of a ban on cluster bombs.
The Handicap International delegation at the OCCM will be headed by Dr. Jean Baptiste Richardier, CEO of Handicap International France.
The Oslo Conference on Cluster Munitions (OCCM), a process aimed at producing an international ban on cluster bombs, is set for 22 to 23 February 2007. Some 40 governments have already pledged their participation in the conference.
In November 2006 Norway declared that it would spearhead negotiations towards an international ban on cluster bombs following the failure of an arms control conference in Geneva to move against the weapons. Norway’s announcement was prompted by the failure of states parties to the 1980 Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) to agree to begin negotiations on cluster munitions.
Following the deadlock at the CCW Norway officially called on states, the International Committee on the Red Cross, and the relevant NGOs to draw up a legally-binding instrument specific to cluster bombs. If the upcoming and subsequent summits are successful, it will mark a turning point in the history of international humanitarian law.
A similar initiative by Canada in 1997 led to the Ottawa Convention banning anti-personnel landmines, which has now been signed by 154 countries.
According to the U.S. Department of State, while using American made cluster bombs in Lebanon, Israel may have violated an agreement reached with the United States, which imposed a “restrained” use on these weapons. "There may -- likely could have been some violations," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said. Such a stance ignores the true impact of these weapons, which disproportionately impact civilians regardless of the nature of their use. A complete ban on cluster bombs rather than their “restrained” use is essential to stop these weapons from killing and injuring civilians.
This is the message that Handicap International will bring to Oslo on the 22nd and 23rd February, where approximately 40 states will meet for the first time to establish an international ban on these inhumane weapons. Despite the large international contingent that will attend these negotiations the United States and Israel will not be present.
According to the Mine Action Coordination Centre of Southern Lebanon (UNMACC), the Israeli Army used close to 4 million submunitions in the recent conflict with Lebanon, a vast majority being American produced. Today there remain about one million unexploded submunitions, posing a constant threat to the civilian population. From the ceasefire to 25th January 2007 unexploded cluster munitions have claimed 186 civilian victims in Lebanon, according to the National Office of Mine Clearance in Lebanon. 33% were less than 18 years old. A report on cluster bombs published by Handicap International in November 2006 shows these grim statistics to be representative of all areas where cluster bombs are used. The report indicates that 98% of the victims of these weapons are civilians, and 27% are children.
In 1982, following Israel’s heavy use of cluster bombs in civilian areas of Lebanon, the United States banned the sale of cluster bombs to Israel for six years. The U.S. State Department has said that any further investigation or action against the Israeli government by the United States would be determined in consultations with Congress. Israel produces its own cluster munitions, so any possible cutoff of U.S. supplies would be mainly symbolic.
Despite mounting UK Parliament cross-party support for a ban on cluster bombs and extensive evidence attesting to the devastating and inhumane impact that cluster munitions have on civilians, the UK continues to stockpile, transfer and use these weapons. While the government has expressed concerns regarding the humanitarian impact of these weapons, the official position continues to be that the UK will retain cluster munitions as a military option.
Following the launch of the Handicap International report “Fatal Footprint” in early November a leaked letter by International Development Secretary Hilary Benn called cluster munitions “essentially equivalent to landmines” and called for the British military to stop their use.
“The high failure rate of many cluster munitions, and the failure of many militaries around the world to use these munitions in a targeted way means that cluster munitions have a very serious humanitarian impact, pushing at the boundaries of international humanitarian law,” Mr. Benn wrote. In mid-November, during the Third Review meeting of the UN Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW), the British delegation countered calls for negotiations on cluster munitions with the suggestion that further discussion take place in the future within the framework of the CCW. Supporters of negotiating a ban countered that the proposal was inadequate, simply postponing discussion on a vital humanitarian issue.
In a written parliamentary statement published December 5th, Foreign Office Minister Kim Howells said that he wanted to set out and explain the government's policy on cluster munitions. While claiming that the government “fully shares widespread concerns about the humanitarian impact of these weapons” Howells also insisted that "compelling and legitimate conditions may occur when our armed forces need to use these weapons."
That same day Liberal Democrat defence spokesperson Willie Rennie called on the British military to disassemble its stockpile of cluster bombs and immediately scrap unguided “dumb” bombs. This call was echoed by Michael Moore, the Liberal Democrats foreign affairs spokesperson who remarked, “The bottom line is we should be getting rid of all cluster munitions.”
Foreign Office minister Geoff Hoon commented that “we are taking steps as best we can to reach an agreement internationally that, in particular, those weapons that cannot be properly targeted - that is those that are considered to be dumb - should not be used by any country.”
