DUBLIN: Ireland convened diplomats from more than 100 countries Monday in hopes of negotiating a treaty banning cluster bombs, which have littered battlefields worldwide with potentially deadly "duds." Each bomb, rocket or shell scatters "bomblets" that carpet enemy troops or armored vehicles. But some fail to detonate, creating unmapped minefields that kill or maim civilians - including children who can mistake the objects for toys - months or years later. The negotiations, begun in Norway last year, seek to impose restrictions on cluster bomb manufacturing, sales and storage. But myriad arguments loom over defining what a cluster bomb is, and whether to exempt the most technologically reliable or precise systems. If participants achieve a draft treaty in Dublin during the coming 12 days of negotiations, a formal signing ceremony would follow in Norway in December.
DUBLIN: Ireland convened diplomats from more than 100 countries Monday in hopes of negotiating a treaty banning cluster bombs, which have littered battlefields worldwide with potentially deadly "duds."
Each bomb, rocket or shell scatters "bomblets" that carpet enemy troops or armored vehicles. But some fail to detonate, creating unmapped minefields that kill or maim civilians - including children who can mistake the objects for toys - months or years later.
The negotiations, begun in Norway last year, seek to impose restrictions on cluster bomb manufacturing, sales and storage. But myriad arguments loom over defining what a cluster bomb is, and whether to exempt the most technologically reliable or precise systems.
If participants achieve a draft treaty in Dublin during the coming 12 days of negotiations, a formal signing ceremony would follow in Norway in December.
International envoys are meeting in Dublin for a 12-day conference to hammer out a deal that would ban the use of cluster bombs. Big producers like the US and Israel will not be attending, while the pressure is on the UK to push to water down the treaty to prevent it undermining the NATO alliance. A live unexploded "bomblet" from a cluster bomb: More than 100 countries are trying to get cluster bombs banned. Almost 10 years after the Ottawa Treaty banned the use of landmines, more than 100 countries are gathering on Monday to attempt to ban cluster bombs as well. However, the United States and other big producers will not be attending. Washington is arguing that the proposed treaty threatens to undermine the very fabric of NATO (more...). Envoys are gathering in the Irish capital Dublin for a conference that aims to agree on a convention banning cluster bombs. The states will negotiate the terms of the international treaty that would prohibit the use, production and stockpiling of the cluster munitions by the signatories. However the biggest producers of the cluster weapons, the United States, China, Israel and Russia, are not attending the 12-day conference and have been lobbying hard to have it watered down. Benjamin Chang, a spokesman for the US mission to the United Nations, told Reuters that Washington is opposed to any ban. "We do not believe they are indiscriminate weapons."
International envoys are meeting in Dublin for a 12-day conference to hammer out a deal that would ban the use of cluster bombs. Big producers like the US and Israel will not be attending, while the pressure is on the UK to push to water down the treaty to prevent it undermining the NATO alliance.
A live unexploded "bomblet" from a cluster bomb: More than 100 countries are trying to get cluster bombs banned. Almost 10 years after the Ottawa Treaty banned the use of landmines, more than 100 countries are gathering on Monday to attempt to ban cluster bombs as well. However, the United States and other big producers will not be attending. Washington is arguing that the proposed treaty threatens to undermine the very fabric of NATO (more...).
Envoys are gathering in the Irish capital Dublin for a conference that aims to agree on a convention banning cluster bombs. The states will negotiate the terms of the international treaty that would prohibit the use, production and stockpiling of the cluster munitions by the signatories.
However the biggest producers of the cluster weapons, the United States, China, Israel and Russia, are not attending the 12-day conference and have been lobbying hard to have it watered down. Benjamin Chang, a spokesman for the US mission to the United Nations, told Reuters that Washington is opposed to any ban. "We do not believe they are indiscriminate weapons."
