Cluster Bomb Ban Treaty Is Signed

Cluster Bomb Ban Treaty Is Signed

news.bbc.co.uk

More than 100 nations, including the UK, have signed a treaty to ban current designs of cluster bombs. Diplomats have agreed to back an international ban on the manufacture, use or stockpiling of the munitions, following 12 days of talks in Dublin.

Countries like the US, India, Pakistan and Israel claim such munitions are highly useful on the battlefield, but opponents say that where the bomblets fail to explode they leave a deadly legacy for civilians.

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Additional News Links:
www.sfgate.com.../c/a/2008/05/31/EDMF10U5K9.DTL
www.stopclustermunitions.org...

[edit on 2/6/08 by Souljah]

More then 100 countries have agreed not to manufacture or stockpile cluster munitions. But that is not their legacy or their problem, because the countries that produce most of these munitions and actually use them - USA, Russia, Israel, Pakistan and India - did not sign the treaty and will continue to use these deadly munitions. Cluster bombs have been used in countries including Cambodia, Kosovo, Afghanistan and Lebanon, and the legacy of these bombs is still there present in everyday life. But almost none of these countries that use them most, do not have any of these problems on their own territory - no little bomblets or mines left behind after a conflict, causing several deaths a year. Four out of every ten people killed or injured by cluster bombs are children.

news.bbc.co.uk
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