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... 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." Some of those who are attending, particularly the United Kingdom, are hoping to secure exemptions on certain weapons, or have more time to dismantle their arsenal. And there is also a push by allies of the US to scrap or water down a key clause that would prohibit signatories from mounting joint operations with any state that uses cluster bombs, something the US argues would make the alliance almost unworkable. Humanitarian organizations are pushing for a complete ban, which they argue would be a measure comparable in importance to the ban on the use of land mines agreed in 1999. Groups such as Human Rights Watch emphasize the danger cluster weapons pose to civilians in particular. Dropped from planes or fired from artillery, cluster bombs explode in mid-air, randomly scattering bomblets. Many fail to explode and are scattered across terrain, causing death or injury to civilians -- particularly children who sometimes mistake them for toys. The International Committee of the Red Cross says it continues to see the consequence of the bombs. "Cluster munitions are weapons that never stop killing," ICRC President Jakob Kellenberger said in a statement last week.
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."
Some of those who are attending, particularly the United Kingdom, are hoping to secure exemptions on certain weapons, or have more time to dismantle their arsenal. And there is also a push by allies of the US to scrap or water down a key clause that would prohibit signatories from mounting joint operations with any state that uses cluster bombs, something the US argues would make the alliance almost unworkable.
Humanitarian organizations are pushing for a complete ban, which they argue would be a measure comparable in importance to the ban on the use of land mines agreed in 1999. Groups such as Human Rights Watch emphasize the danger cluster weapons pose to civilians in particular. Dropped from planes or fired from artillery, cluster bombs explode in mid-air, randomly scattering bomblets. Many fail to explode and are scattered across terrain, causing death or injury to civilians -- particularly children who sometimes mistake them for toys.
The International Committee of the Red Cross says it continues to see the consequence of the bombs. "Cluster munitions are weapons that never stop killing," ICRC President Jakob Kellenberger said in a statement last week.
