Cluster Munition Coalition Press Release

Netherlands suspends use of cluster munitions, but questions remain

The Hague, 27 June 2007

The Dutch government announced a moratorium on the use of cluster munitions today, as the Parliamentary Commission on Defence held a hearing on the weapon. However, the government has left the door open to possible use in the future.  

In a letter to the lower house of Parliament, the Foreign and Defence Ministers announced that the government “has decided with immediate effect that the Royal Airforce should not use cluster munitions. If situations appear in which a choice to use cluster munitions needs to be made then the government will inform parliament at the time.” The announcement means that the two types of cluster bombs in service with the Dutch air force can no longer be used without specific authorisation from the Minister of Defence and prior notification from the Minister of Defence to Parliament.

"The Dutch government has been lagging behind on cluster munition policy so we welcome this decision. It should mean that Dutch forces will never again use cluster bombs" said Thomas Nash, Coordinator of the Cluster Munition Coalition. “The specific types of cluster bombs in the Dutch arsenal are highly dangerous to civilians and should be destroyed as soon as possible,” he said.  The Dutch announcement follows the comprehensive moratoria on cluster munitions already introduced by Norway, Austria and Hungary and the national ban adopted by Belgium.

The Netherlands is one of a growing group of 75 states participating in an international process to conclude a new treaty by 2008 prohibiting cluster munitions that cause unacceptable harm to civilians. The process was launched in Oslo, Norway in February 2007.

It is unclear how the announcement will affect Dutch policy in the international process. Up to now, the Netherlands has raised reservations about the comprehensive nature of a new treaty, and has supported exceptions for cluster munitions with self-destruct mechanisms.

"We are happy with this measure as a first step nationally, but the real test of its importance will be a change in the Dutch policy internationally, so that it supports a comprehensive treaty on cluster munitions. That remains to be seen," said Miriam Struyk, from CMC member IKV Pax Christi.

Notes to editors:

• Cluster munitions are weapons that can disperse up to several hundreds of smaller submunitions – sometimes referred to as “bomblets” - over wide areas. They have indiscriminate wide area effects that kill and injure civilians during attacks and they leave severe and lasting humanitarian and development consequences from large quantities of post-conflict unexploded ordnance.
• The Dutch military dropped more than 30,000 cluster submunitions in Kosovo before suspending their use because of fears about the civilian harm being caused. At least 95 civilians were killed or injured by cluster munitions during and since the conflict in the former Yugoslavia[i]. The Dutch Government has not made it clear whether these weapons have been used in Afghanistan.
• The Netherlands has CBU-87 CEM cluster munitions and the M261 cluster munition - a hydra rocket delivered cluster munition in service.
• The international Oslo Process initiated by the government of Norway and supported by the Cluster Munition Coalition, was initiated by an international conference in Oslo in February 2007 where 46 governments signed up to a declaration to establish an international treaty by 2008 to ‘prohibit cluster munitions that cause unacceptable harm to civilians’. A conference was held in Lima on cluster munitions in May 2007 and there are now 75 governments participating in the Oslo process.
• The Dutch government has endorsed the Oslo declaration and attended both the international cluster munitions conferences in Oslo and Lima. However, the Dutch government is promoting the exclusion of cluster munitions with self-destruct mechanisms from a treaty. Cluster munitions with self-destruct mechanisms including the M85 cluster munitions, were used in Lebanon last year causing deaths and injuries to civilians because of their wide area effect, they also failed to self-destruct causing harm to civilians after the conflict ended.
• At least 75 countries around the world stockpile cluster munitions and 34 are known to have produced more than 210 types of cluster munitions. Cluster munitions have been used by 14 different States including the Netherlands, in at least 29 countries and territories.
• The issue of cluster munitions was most recently brought to public attention by the conflict in Lebanon in 2006, when Israel dropped an estimated four million submunitions, up to a quarter of which failed to detonate. Cluster munitions were also used in recent conflicts including in Afghanistan, Kosovo and Iraq where they continue to destroy lives and limbs.
• Belgium was the first country to ban cluster munitions in February 2006.  Austria, Norway and Hungary have renounced the use of cluster munitions through a national moratorium.
• The CMC is an international network of over 200 civil society organisations in 50 countries committed to stopping the use of cluster munitions and protecting civilians from their effects. Members of the CMC network work together on an international campaign calling on governments to stop using cluster munitions and to work towards new international law to deal with this unjust weapon forever.  More information on the CMC is available online at http://www.stopclusterbombs.org.
• The new Handicap International report “Circle of Impact: the Fatal Footprint of Cluster Munitions on People and Communities” is available at: http://en.handicapinternational.be/index.php?action=article&numero=467
• Norwegian People’s Aid has produced a report on the use of cluster munitions in Serbia and Montenegro and is available at:

http://www.stopclustermunitions.org/files/YellowKillersNPA.pdf

• Landmine Action has produced a report on the use of cluster munitions in Kosovo and is available at:

http://www.landmineaction.org/resources/resource.asp?resID=1035

[i]  Norwegian People’s Aid (2007) Yellow Killers: The impact of cluster munitions in Serbia and Montenegro, Norway

Interviews:

Thomas Nash, Coordinator, Cluster Munition Coalition (CMC)

+44 (0) 7711 926 730

English, French, Spanish

Miriam Struyk, IKV Pax Christi (Dutch member of CMC)

+31 648 981 493

Dutch, English