Cluster bomb ban by 111 countries

windof

from yahoo news...29/5/08

Landmark cluster bomb ban agreed by 111 countries



DUBLIN (AFP) - Delegates from 111 nations agreed Wednesday a landmark treaty to ban cluster bombs, Ireland's foreign ministry said, in a deal that lacks the backing of major producers and stockpilers of the lethal weapons.

After 10 days of painstaking negotiations at Croke Park stadium in Dublin, diplomats agreed the wording of a wide-ranging pact to outlaw the use, production, transfer and stockpiling of cluster munitions by its signatories.
It also provides for the welfare of victims and the clearing of areas contaminated by unexploded cluster bombs.
The agreement will be formally adopted on Friday, and signed in Oslo on December 2-3. Signatories would then need to ratify it.
"This is a very strong and ambitious text which nevertheless was able to win consensus among all delegations," said Irish Foreign Minister Micheal Martin. "It is a real contribution to international humanitarian law."
But crucially, the United States, Russia, China, India, Israel and Pakistan -- all major producers and stockpilers of cluster bombs -- were absent from the Dublin talks, and thus not part of the agreement.
The Irish Department for Foreign Affairs said 111 participating states and 18 observer countries attended.
The process "has been characterised by a true determination on all sides to reach an ambitious and consensual outcome," the ministry said.
The treaty requires the destruction of stockpiled munitions within eight years -- though it leaves the door open for future, more precise generations of cluster munitions that pose less harm to civilians.
Britain was widely cited by campaigners as being at the forefront of a group of states seeking to water down the treaty.
But in a dramatic move Wednesday, Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced in London that Britain would withdraw all its cluster bombs from service in a bid to "break the log jam" in the Dublin talks.
Brown later said in a statement he was "delighted" with the treaty's agreement, and said it made "the world a safer place."
The draft treaty agreed in Dublin read:
"Each state party undertakes never under any circumstances to:
"(a) Use cluster munitions;
"(b) Develop, produce, otherwise acquire, stockpile, retain or transfer to anyone, directly or indirectly, cluster munitions;
"(c) Assist, encourage or induce anyone to engage in any activity prohibited to a state party under this convention."
Much of the wrangling at Croke Park focused on what signatories could and could not do in joint operations with states still using cluster bombs. The draft text said signatories "may engage in military cooperation and operations". But the Cluster Munition Coalition, an umbrella group of non-governmental organisations, hopes that the treaty will stigmatise the use of cluster munitions -- as the similar Ottawa Treaty did for landmines -- and stop countries from helping others to use them. CMC co-chair Simon Conway told AFP the treaty was a compromise but nonetheless "incredibly strong". "We're going to end up with a strong treaty that prohibits every cluster bomb that's ever been used, with no transition periods, with strong obligations on clearance and particularly strong obligations on victim assistance," he said. "The people that have done the most compromising are the bad guys," he added, welcoming Britain's "massive movement". "They are giving up for all the right reasons, which is that they cause indiscriminate harm and kill civilians." Hildegarde Vansintjan, advocacy officer for disability campaigners Handicap International, said the convention made states responsible for providing assistance to cluster bomb victims. The treaty "would be a real step forward for the people suffering from cluster munitions all over the world," she told AFP. The cluster munitions ban process, started by Norway in February 2007, took the same path as the 1997 Ottawa Treaty by going outside the United Nations to avoid vetoes and seal a swift pact. Cluster munitions are among the weapons that pose the gravest dangers to civilians, especially in heavily bombed countries like Laos, Vietnam and Afghanistan. Dropped from planes or fired from artillery, they explode in mid-air, randomly scattering bomblets. Countries are seeking a ban due to the risk of civilians being killed or maimed by their indiscriminate, wide area effect. They also pose a lasting threat to civilians as many bomblets fail to explode on impact.


Is Malaysia one of the signatories?
If yes, will it affect the operation of the ASTROSS regiments  and also the fighter bomber squadrons of the air force?

lipanlapan

Thursday May 29, 2008

Experts see big holes in cluster bomb ban
By Luke Baker

LONDON (Reuters) - An agreement banning cluster bombs has cheered human rights campaigners, but powerful military states are refusing to join it and experts say the treaty is riddled with holes and could prove unworkable.


An unexploded cluster bomb is seen in a suburb of Najaf, April 27, 2003. (REUTERS/Ruben Sprich/Files)

The agreement, to be formalised in Dublin on Thursday, commits 111 countries to banning the use of cluster munitions -- "bomblets", usually scattered from the air, that detonate like mines.

But the United States, China and Russia have side-stepped the deal, and while Britain and other NATO states champion the ban, the treaty has loopholes that would allow British troops to benefit if an ally like Washington uses the weapons.

"This is an absolutely rock-solid treaty that's going to outlaw a lethal munition," said Mark Garlasco, an analyst at Human Rights Watch, pleased with what he saw as the fruitful outcome of 10 days of talks in the Irish capital.

"This is going to outlaw 99.9 percent of the cluster munitions out there ... which will stigmatise the weapon even for those countries that aren't signatories to the ban."

Despite that confidence, however, Garlasco and other campaigners acknowledge that the treaty, due to be signed in Oslo in December, has clauses that soften its impact, leaving it with significant moral weight but arguably less substance.

"There are a number of countries that are important military powers that have not signed this treaty," conceded Thomas Nash of umbrella group Cluster Munition Coalition. But he added:

"What you will see is a very profound stigmatisation of this weapon ... Countries like the United States are not going to be able to use cluster munitions in the future without facing a huge public backlash."

"FULL OF HOLES"

The United States, the world's largest military power, has made clear it intends to go on using the bombs when it sees fit.

"While the United States shares the humanitarian concerns of those in Dublin, cluster munitions have demonstrated military utility," State Department spokesman Tom Casey said on Wednesday, adding that to join the ban would put U.S. soldiers' lives at risk.

Israel, which made widespread use of cluster bombs during its 2006 war with Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, has reiterated its intention to go on using them, and India and Pakistan are also notable non-signatories of the treaty.

Article 21 of the agreement would let British troops call in U.S. air support that might include planes dropping cluster bombs, although British forces would not themselves use them.

"The whole thing is like a Gruyere cheese -- it's completely full of holes," said Nigel Inkster, an analyst at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London.

"If you think that a person with a very real threat in front of them, a threat that would be alleviated by the use of cluster bomb munitions, isn't going to use them ... it's a no-brainer.

"It just seems empty in so many ways," he said of the deal.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown pushed hard for a ban, even though the British military often employs cluster bombs.

A Foreign Office spokesman attending the talks played down suggestions Brown had overridden military objections to sign up to the treaty, and said Britain now hoped to use its position to persuade others to agree to the ban.

"We hope that by the position we've adopted others may eventually follow suit," he said.

"The U.S.-British alliance and the ability to work with our allies is critical, and article 21 is very helpful on that."

(Additional reporting by Andras Gergely in Dublin and Dan Williams in Jerusalem)

Copyright

areguard

Kut lepas ni kena usulkan ban semua bom dan peluru berpandu due to humanitarian reasons...tutuplah kilang peluru dna bom

escortburuk

Mengarut la treaty ni. Apa guna sign kalau semua kuasa besar tak nak ban sesama. Lagipun depa ni la pengguna terbesar clulster bomb.

tin

as always, small countries will suffer.

windof

kalu negara2 kuasa besar n producer tak nak ikut, negara lain pun tak payah ikut ler, buat perobeh beras jo..

mdmee

Astros II jugak dikira cluster bomb juga ...

kahmadz

kat booth RMAF Subang aritu pun ada replica cluster bomb gak.....
heheh efos kite pun ade menatang nih....

RainbowSix

'Israel, which made widespread use of cluster bombs during its 2006 war with Hezbollah in southern Lebanon'

Korang tahu dak di mana Israel guna cluster bomb ni masa perang Lebanon 2006?

Debmey

ok, so we can dump our cluster bomb stocks on middle rocks cos its a useless little island.

innocentti

way to go..better be sure it clustered those little 'pedra blanca' as well..

edelweiss101

dont worry, it doesnt affect us as we didnt agree to the ban.

we will continue to use them as long as we like...

trapdoor

Originally posted by edelweiss101 at 4-6-2008 11:46 PM
dont worry, it doesnt affect us as we didnt agree to the ban.

we will continue to use them as long as we like...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convention_on_Cluster_Munitions

singapore is noted as one of the 28 countries that produces cluster munition.

singapore is also one of the 17 producer nation that have NOT signed the convention.

among the ASEAN countries, the following nations have agreed to destroy all their cluster munition stockpile and BAN the use of cluster munition under any circumstances.

BRUNEI
INDONESIA
LAOS
CAMBODIA
PHILIPPINE
MALAYSIA


however, if malaysia needs to cluster bomb somebody, they can still call neighbouring singapore and thailand for it.

Debmey

I dont think cluster bombs is the critical weapon in deciding a war.

StealthTuah

Apparently yes. though country like Sg is a blood thirsty country hiding behind humanitarian mission in Indo and as such. ironic.

IceMallet

Rasa yer TUDM pun ada cluster bombs ni kan, tak salah Hawk dgn Hornet yang bawak

Debmey

Originally posted by StealthTuah at 5-6-2008 09:37 AM
Apparently yes. though country like Sg is a blood thirsty country hiding behind humanitarian mission in Indo and as such. ironic.

dont worry buddy. Singaporens are good people. We do good to the people in need and kill only bad people with our bullets and bombs. You wont need to worry if you are a good man.

windof

kalau malaysia dah sign tak mau pakai bom ni, bermakna ia tahu ada senjata lain yg masih boleh digunakan utk meletupkan sebuah kawasan yg besar spt cluster bomb tanpa meninggalkan kesan spt yg dihasilkan oleh c.b. spt colateral damage dan kesan pada civies. begitu juga dengan negara2 lain yg sign. cuma mungkin senjata2 sebegini lebih mahal, tp kebaikan jangka panjangnya lebih baik utk generasi akan datang.

kahmadz

ikut kate personnel manning the booth...cluster bomb tu gunanya utk musnahkan landasan musuh......SEPATUTNYA....

RainbowSix

Isu ni naik sebab Israel guna cluster bombs on civilian towns masa 2006. Budak-budak mati mcm tu aje situ.