US Government Supports 'Go Slow' Approach on Cluster Bombs 

U.S. Campaign to Ban Landmines 
WASHINGTON
13 November 2007

The United States worked this week with a small group of other powerful nations to oppose efforts to negotiate a legally binding treaty to ban the stockpiling, use, transfer and manufacturing of cluster munitions that cause unacceptable harm to civilians, the U.S. Campaign to Ban Landmines said today.

This follows the Bush administration's decision to oppose legislation introduced in the U.S. Congress that would prohibit the use of U.S. cluster munitions in civilian populated areas and the use of cluster munitions with high failure rates.

After a week of negotiations in Geneva, the countries that are party to the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW) agreed today to a mandate to "negotiate a proposal" next year. This agreement contains no details outlining what the negotiations are intended to accomplish or even requiring that the end result would be a legally-binding instrument that would stop the parties from using these weapons in a way that results in high levels of civilian casualties.

The U.S. Campaign to Ban Landmines supports the international effort launched in Oslo in 2007 to negotiate a legally binding treaty by the end of 2008 that would ban the use of cluster munitions that cause unacceptable harm to civilians. This process has alredy been endorsed by more than 80 countries. The U.S. government has refused to join this effort and has instead attempted to channel diplomatic work on cluster bombs into the consensus based forum at the CCW, which has no fixed end date and no fixed goal.

"The CCW has once again failed to deliver on cluster munitions," said Steve Goose, the director of the Arms Division of Human Rights Watch, which is on the steering committee of the U.S. Campaign to Ban Landmines. "Any country that is serious about trying to deal with the horrific humanitarian consequences of cluster munitions will now throw all its weight behind the Oslo Process and sign a ban treaty in 2008," said Goose. "While the CCW inches along toward an unknown destination, almost certainly headed nowhere, the Oslo Process is racing forward with definite direction toward a ban treaty in 2008 that will save lives."

Given U.S. opposition to the Oslo process, the U.S. Campaign to Ban Landmines is working actively to persuade Congress to pass the Cluster Munitions Civilian Protection Act (S. 594/H.R. 1755) that would prevent the use of U.S. cluster munitions in civilian populated areas of any country, and prohibit the use of cluster munitions with high failure rates.

"We were disappointed when the U.S. government refused to join the majority of the countries of the world in working to ban cluster munitions through the Oslo Process," explained Lora Lumpe, the coordinator of the U.S. Campaign to Ban Landmines. "Then we were astounded when the State Department declared that the U.S. government could not support legislation preventing the bombing of civilians. Now the Bush administration, recognizing that tide has shifted against these weapons, is trying to appear to be doing something positive while doing nothing."