NGOs push for EU ban

The EU is refusing to back calls for negotiations to control cluster munitions says Richard Moyes of Landmine Action.

For more than 40 years the use of cluster munitions has caused unnecessary civilian deaths and injuries. The carpet bombing of villages with cluster bombs during the Vietnam War led to proposals from some states in the 1970s that these weapons should be outlawed.

The case for a prohibition has continued to grow stronger as the full impact of these weapons on non-combatants has become apparent.

Thirty years after the bombing stopped, hundreds of civilians in Vietnam are still killed and injured every year. Vietnam is just one example.

Cluster munitions have been used in 22 countries already. As well as causing civilian casualties during and long after attacks, cluster munitions can stop people from using agricultural land or rebuilding their homes.

Whilst all conflicts produce some level of ‘unexploded ordnance’ contamination, the use of cluster munitions creates a particularly lethal barrier to post-conflict rehabilitation and security for the civilian population. They are also in the hands of non-state armed groups. The problem is only growing larger.

The European commission recently announced an emergency decision providing €30m for
reconstruction and rehabilitation in southern Lebanon.

Civilian cluster munitions casualties in southern Lebanon since the August 2006 ceasefire already number in the hundreds.

At meetings in Geneva, is refusing to back calls for negotiations to control these weapons. Instead the EU is sponsoring a proposal for open ended discussions with a focus on improving the performance of all weapons.

The process sponsored by the EU will do nothing to address the problems caused by cluster munitions.

Instead, European aid providers will continue to pay to clear up the mess whilst European states refuse to stop such problems from occurring.

Such a lack of policy coherence, despite the much heralded European Consensus on Development, will be paid for in civilian lives and the scarce monies earmarked for humanitarian assistance.

The refusal of European states to take action on this issue is at odds with strong public distaste for these weapons.

The challenge is to get this public opinion acted on by political representatives.

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