AN INTERNATIONAL agreement to outlaw cluster munitions will be formally adopted in Dublin today following weeks of diplomatic wrangling between more than 100 countries.
The treaty, hammered out during two weeks of talks at Croke Park, has been under negotiation since February 2007. The countries signing up to the landmark agreement have undertaken not to use, manufacture or sell cluster bombs, and to destroy existing stockpiles within eight years.
Under the terms of the deal agreed on Wednesday, areas contaminated with bomblets scattered by the munitions are to be cleared and significant measures will be implemented to assist victims.
The participating countries are scheduled to meet again in Oslo in early December to sign the agreement.
Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin has welcomed the agreed text, describing it as “strong and ambitious”. He hailed it as a real contribution to international humanitarian law, and spoke of his pride that Ireland had played a leading role in its adoption.
Minister for Health Mary Harney also praised the treaty. “Everybody involved deserves to be genuinely congratulated. I think it is a landmark decision,” she added.
Labour party president Michael D Higgins said the agreed text was a “strong and sturdy one which will be of immense value in the coming years and decades”. Some of the worlds largest producers and users of cluster munitions – including the US, Russia, China and Israel, boycotted the Dublin conference but campaigners hope the agreement will help “stigmatise” the use of the bombs.
“There are a number of countries that are important military powers that have not signed this treaty,” admitted Thomas Nash of umbrella group Cluster Munition Coalition. “Countries like the United States are not going to be able to use cluster munitions in the future without facing a huge public backlash,” Mr Nash said.
The US, however, has indicated that it intends to continue using the munitions if it needs to.
“While the United States shares the humanitarian concerns of those in Dublin, cluster munitions have demonstrated military utility,” state department spokesman Tom Casey said earlier this week, adding that to endorse the ban would put American soldiers’ lives at risk.
Tom Clonan’s analysis: page 16
Editorial comment: page 17