New Zealand Hosts Cluster Bomb Conference

[TonyGosling]

New Zealand hosting cluster bomb confab
Mon, 18 Feb 2008 12:04:44

A cluster bomb victim
Countries are meeting in New Zealand to discuss a treaty banning the use of cluster bombs that cause unacceptable harm to civilians.

A five-day conference on cluster bombs began in Wellington Monday with delegations from more than 120 countries expected to decide whether to formally back an agreement banning the use, production, trade and storage of cluster bombs.

The conference has been organized by the Cluster Munitions Coalition (CMC), a global network of 200 civil society organizations, and the talks - launched last year - aim to smooth progress towards the signing of a global treaty later this year.

But some major producers and buyers of cluster bombs - including the United States and the Zionist regime - remain opposed to an outright ban and are absent.

Cluster bombs are especially deadly since they contain smaller bomblets which scatter over a wide area and which sometimes explode only decades after a conflict has ended, killing and maiming civilians.

They caused more civilian casualties in Iraq in 2003 and Kosovo in 1999 than any other weapon system. The Zionist regime's widespread use of cluster bombs during the 33-day war against Lebanon in 2006 caused more than 200 civilian casualties in the year following the ceasefire, CMC said.

The UN estimates that 40 percent of the victims of cluster bombs are children.

http://www.presstv.ir/Detail.aspx?id=43614&sectionid=351020406