As thirty states have ratified the UN convention on banning cluster munitions, the convention can finally enter into force. Formally this will happen the 1st of August.
Photo: vaxzine/flickr.com
Last pieces in the puzzle
Burkina Faso and Moldova were the last pieces in the puzzle, and Norway’s Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Støre is very content that the needed 30 states now has come to an agreement considering a ban of the explosive weapon.
- - With this convention, we have helped to make the world a safer place, strengthened humanitarian law and, not least, ensured that victims will receive assistance, says Gahr Støre in a press release.
Norway has been an active promoter of the convention, which was opened for signature in Norway’s capital Oslo on 3rd of December 2008. The convention can be described as a result of cooperation between different states, the United Nations (UN), the International Red Cross movement, together with other humanitarian organizations.
Destroying of weapons starts immediately
After ratification, states are prohibited from any use, stockpiling, production, acquisition or transfer of cluster munitions. They are also obliged to destroy the cluster munitions they already have, give assistance to victims of the weapon, in addition to help other countries clearing areas of unexploded bombs.
The Norwegian Foreign Minister tells that Norway will destroy all its cluster munitions in some months from now.
- In addition, we are contributing more than NOK 100 million a year (approximately 25 million TL, red.anm.) for clearance of affected areas and assistance to victims of cluster munitions, he says.
Cluster munitions are also known by the name “cluster bombs”, and are either dropped from the air or ground-launched. This kind of weapon spread small bombs over wide areas, and often pose a huge risk to civilians also after the end of a war.
Read the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs' press release here.
Learn more about the UN convention and the Oslo Process by visiting these webpages: http://stopclustermunitions.org/ ,http://www.clusterconvention.org/ .