Cluster bomb talks not ambitious enough -(ICRC)

Reuters
HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH
13 November 2007

GENEVA, Nov 13 (Reuters) - United Nations arms talks ended on Tuesday without firm pledges to seek a ban on cluster bombs, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said.

The annual meeting of states party to the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons resulted in only a vague promise to start negotiating a treaty next year on the humanitarian impact of cluster munitions, the Swiss-based agency said.

Cluster bombs, munitions that disperse into bomblets scattered over a wide area, kill or maim thousands of civilians every year. Many bomblets fail to detonate but remain dangerous for decades after they were dropped.

"It is regrettable that the mandate adopted today does not reflect a collective commitment either to the adoption of a legally binding instrument or to the prohibition of those cluster munitions which have caused such a serious humanitarian problem," said Peter Herby, head of the ICRC's arms unit.

Without a clear timeframe to complete the negotiations, Herby said the talks risked becoming drawn out, without an effective solution.

Nearly 70 countries have voiced support for a ban on cluster bombs, but the United States, Russia and China have not. U.S. officials have backed the idea of a treaty to reduce civilian casualties from the weapon without a full ban on its use.

The Cluster Munition Coalition, an international group campaigning against the weapons, said the focus of efforts to ban cluster bombs would now move to Vienna from Dec. 4-7, when more than 80 countries would meet to discuss the problem.

The Vienna meeting is part of a series launched in Oslo in February earlier this year where countries are working on a treaty on cluster munitions.

"The decision here (in Geneva) is a road to nowhere on cluster munitions that will never lead to a ban. Fortunately the real work to develop a ban treaty is well advanced and will stride forward in Vienna next month," said Thomas Nash, coordinator of the coalition.

This work on a treaty in what is known as the Oslo process is similar to the creation of a treaty banning landmines in 1997 that followed the failure to agree a total ban on landmines under the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons. (Reporting by Jonathan Lynn; Editing by Laura MacInnis and Catherine Evans)