Information about cluster bombs, the humanitarian problem with cluster bombs, the Oslo process, the Convention on Cluster Munitions, entry into force, the first anniversary of entry into force, the First Meetings of States Parties and the Second Meeting of States Parties
WHAT IS A CLUSTER BOMB? A cluster bomb or cluster munition, is a weapon containing multiple – often hundreds – of small explosive submunitions, or bomblets. Cluster bombs are dropped from the air or fired from the ground and designed to break open in mid-air, releasing the submunitions and saturating an area that can be the size of several football fields. This impact area is referred to as the weapon’s “footprint”.
Cluster bombs are area effect weapons. This means that their impact is not limited to one precise target, such as an individual tank. Instead, a whole area is scattered with explosives. Across this area there is an indiscriminate risk to civilians and soldiers alike. As so many of the submunitions fail to explode on impact as intended, huge quantities are left on the ground and like landmines, remain a fatal threat to anyone in the area long after a conflict ends. The unexploded submunitions kill and injure people trying to rebuild their lives after conflict. They stop people from being able to use their land and access schools and hospitals.
WHAT IS THE PROBLEM? Cluster bombs kill and injure too many civilians both during attacks and after the conflict has ended. From Laos to Lebanon, cluster bombs have posed a deadly and predictable threat in every conflict in which they have been used and have repeatedly caused excessive harm to civilians. This is a photo of Zoheir Ali Khoshe. He was injured during a cluster munition strike on Lebanon in 1982.
Cluster bombs pose a deadly threat to civilians during attacks because they cover wide areas with explosives and shrapnel. The area affected during a single attack can be up to the size of several football pitches. Within the affected area there can be no discrimination between soldiers and civilians. When cluster bombs are used in or near populated areas – where almost all modern conflicts take place – excessive civilian casualties will almost always result. This slide illustrates what a cluster strike would look like using a CB500 cluster bomb on New York city. The red area is the area the strike is expected to cover if all goes as intended – approximately 90,000m2.
A large number of the smaller submunitions, or bomblets, dispersed from cluster munitions fail to explode as they are supposed to. As a result, huge quantities of the smaller explosive bomblets are left on the ground, and like landmines, they pose a lethal threat to civilians living and working in that area long after a conflict has ended. Farmers working their land can cause bomblets to explode. Children are often attracted by the curious shape, colour and small size of the bomblets and have mistaken them for toys, killing and injuring themselves and others from picking them up or playing with them. Simply stepping on a bomblet or picking it up can cause it to explode - resulting in death or severe injuries from shrapnel including loss of limbs and blindness. Cluster bombs also prevent people from rebuilding their livelihoods. The explosive contamination hampers post-conflict development, renders agricultural land inaccessible, or forces people to work in contaminated areas despite the risk because there is no other means for them to earn an income.
THE HUMAN IMPACT Gharachi Belkher was partially blinded in 1983 after picking up a cluster bomblet in Western Sahara. His eyes continued to deteriorate and he had no access to medical help. Now he is completely blind.
Dtar lost his arms after finding a cluster bomblet whilst fishing in Laos. It had been on the ground for at least thirty years before detonating. Thousands have been maimed or killed by cluster bombs, either during attacks or in the years afterwards.
THE OSLO PROCESS Norway launched an initiative in February 2007, known as the Oslo Process, following the failure of government talks within the traditional forum for discussing weapons issues – the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW). Led by Norway and other supportive governments including Austria, the Holy See, Ireland, New Zealand, Mexico and Peru, the Oslo Process set out to create an international treaty by the end of 2008. The February 2007 “Oslo Declaration” was endorsed by 46 countries and committed them to conclude a treaty that would prohibit the use, transfer, and production of cluster munitions that cause unacceptable harm to civilians, would require the destruction of existing stockpiles, and provide adequate resources to assist survivors and clear contaminated areas. Following the meeting in Oslo, a series of international conferences were hosted by other supportive governments to discuss the terms of the treaty in Peru, Austria, New Zealand and Ireland. Around 140 countries participated in one or more of the Oslo Process conferences including major user and producer states, affected states and states that stockpile cluster bombs. The treaty, called the Convention on Cluster Munitions (CCM), was negotiated and formally adopted by 107 countries at the Dublin Diplomatic Conference in May 2008. The Convention was signed by 94 states at a conference in Oslo, Norway on 3 – 4 December 2008.
WHAT DOES THE CONVENTION ON CLUSTER MUNITIONS SAY? The production, stockpiling, use, and transfer of cluster bombs are forbidden in all circumstances. States must not assist, encourage or persuade anyone to engage in any activity banned by the Convention. This includes not investing in companies that make cluster bombs.
Stockpile destruction: States must destroy all cluster bomb stockpiles within eight years of the Convention entering into force. Until they are destroyed they can not be used or transferred.
Clearance: States must clear cluster bomb contaminated land within 10 years of the Convention entering into force. States must report yearly on their clearance programmes. States must educate local people to the risks of cluster bombs. States that have used cluster bombs are ‘strongly encouraged’ to help clear and destroy them, including providing detailed information on when and where they were used.
Victim assistance: States must respect the human rights of all cluster bomb victims by including those directly injured, their families and communities, by providing medical care, rehabilitation, psychological and financial support. International cooperation and assistance: All States able to do so must assist states affected
ENTRY INTO FORCE International treaties “enter into force” and become binding international law after the number of states specified in the treaty have ratified. A total of 30 ratifications were required to trigger entry into force of the CCM six months later. The CCM reached this milestone on 16 February 2010, only 14 months after opening for signature in December 2008 – a very swift pace compared with other international treaties. On 1 August 2010, all of the treaty’s provisions became fully and legally binding for the countries that have signed and ratified it. The clock started ticking for these States Parties to meet their obligations, which include: declaring and destroying stockpiled cluster munitions within eight years, identifying and clearing cluster munition-contaminated areas within 10 years, and assisting affected communities and cluster munition survivors so that they can be fully included in society and enjoy their fundamental human rights. Campaigners took action in more than 80 countries to celebrate the Convention’s entry into force on 1 August 2010.
On 1 August 2011, Cluster Munition Coalition (CMC) members worldwide will take part in coordinated campaign actions to celebrate the first anniversary of entry into force of the Convention on Cluster Munitions. The theme to mark 1 year since the Convention entered into force is sports and the CMC will call on governments to "Join the Team" by acceding to and ratifying the Convention and starting to implement the treaty as soon as possible. CMC members will organise and take part in actions with a sports theme or sporting events including sports events with people with disabilities on 1 August 2011. These events are an opportunity to highlight the rights of people with disabilities and the victim assistance provisions of the CCM.
1MSP The First Meeting of States Parties to the Convention on Cluster Munitions took place in Vientiane, Lao PDR from 8-12 November 2010. This meeting was a defining moment in the life of the Convention and will laid the foundation for future engagement on the treaty by bringing together for the first time States Parties, UN agencies, international organisations, civil society, and cluster bomb survivors. States shared progress and plans for implementation, with the aim of drawing up a blueprint to translate the treaty into action and meet the lifesaving obligations they have consented to be bound by. 2MSP The major milestone of 2011 is the Second Meeting of States Parties (2MSP), which will take place in Beirut, Lebanon, from 12-16 September 2011. At this meeting, States Parties to the Convention on Cluster Munitions will give progress updates on implementing their treaty obligations and will take key decisions on items including the structures to support the implementation and universalisation of the Convention. States that have not yet joined the Convention will also be present to give updates on steps they are taking towards joining. Meetings of States Parties will be held annually at least until the first Review Conference in 2015 – five years after the Convention’s entry into force.
