UN chief hails major advance on global disarmament agenda

UNITED NATIONS, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary- General Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday said that the world body received the 30th instrument of ratification of the Convention on Cluster Munitions (CCM), and hailed it as a “major advance on the global disarmament agenda.” Ban, in a statement issued here by his spokesman, said, “The United Nations received today the 30th instrument of ratification for the Convention on Cluster Munitions. With this step, the Convention will enter into force on Aug. 1, 2010, in keeping with the Convention’s provi- sions.”

“The secretary-general welcomes this major advance on the global disarmament agenda, and notes that the Con- vention’s entry into force just two years after its adop- tion demonstrates the world’s collective revulsion at the impact of these terrible weapons,” the statement said. “Cluster munitions are unreliable and inaccurate,” the statement said. “During conflict and long after it has ended, they maim and kill scores of civilians, including many children. They impair post-conflict recovery by making roads and land inaccessible to farmers and aid workers.”

“The United Nations is firmly committed to ending the use, stockpiling, production and transfer of cluster muni- tions and mitigating the suffering they cause,” the state- ment said. “The secretary-general calls on all States to become a party to the Convention without delay.” The CCM, negotiated and adopted at the Dublin Diplo- matic Conference on May 30, 2008 by 107 countries, is a legally binding international treaty that prohibits the use, production, stockpiling and transfer of cluster mu- nitions and is in accordance with international human rights and international humanitarian law.

Cluster munition is controversial weapons that have been blamed for needlessly killing and maiming civilians, often long after a battle has ended.

Cluster bombs have been used in countries like Cam- bodia, Afghanistan and Lebanon. They are made up of a big container which opens in mid-air, dropping hun- dreds of smaller individual sub-munitions, or “bomblets,” across a wide area.

Source: Xinhua