3) UN Cluster Bomb Opposition

(September 19) – The United Nations has come out with an official stance on cluster bombs . Last month, the United Nations Development Programme announced that all Member States should “immediately freeze the use and transfer of all cluster munitions”, while working toward an international treaty which would formalize a ban on the weapons. The statement provides implicit support for the Oslo Process, although the process itself is not mentioned. Former Secretary General Kofi Annan had previously condemned the use of cluster bombs last year in Lebanon and called for a moratorium on their use. <http://www.npaid.org/?module=Articles;action=Article.publicShow;ID=5418>

The move comes on the heels of a statement on cluster bombs by the UN Mine Action Team, which includes two former Bush Administration officials, World Bank President Robert Zoellick and Executive Director of UNICEF Ann Veneman. Citing the civilian casualties caused by cluster bombs, the UN Mine Action team called for states to participate in an international process to ban the weapons. <http://www.fcnl.org/issues/item.php?item_id=2881&amp;issue_id=138>

4) Cluster Bombs Continue to Kill in Lebanon

(October 12) – The leader of a team attempting to clear unexploded cluster bombs in Lebanon was killed on Thursday. This brings the death toll since the Israeli-Hezbollah conflict ended to 36 with another 227 wounded according to the United Nations. Of an estimated one million unexploded bomblets on the ground in southern Lebanon, 130,000 have been cleared, leaving much work to be done. Efforts to remove bomblets blanketing an estimated 410 million square feet by the end of 2008 have been severely hampered by Israel’s refusal to provide locations of cluster bomb strikes.

Landmines also pose a serious threat to civilians in the south of Lebanon. An estimated 375,000 were placed by Israel along the Blue Line, their UN mandated border and stretching a few miles into southern Lebanon.

Click here <http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/EKOI-77U7DE?OpenDocument> to read more about the impact of cluster bombs and landmines in Lebanon.

5) International Support for Oslo Process Swells to 82 countries in Belgrade

(October 4) - Cluster bomb survivors gathered in Serbia this week to ensure that their rights were at the heart of international efforts to cluster munitions by 2008.

Twenty-two of the 26 states that have been cluster bombed participated in the Belgrade Conference, the latest development in the Oslo Process for a new treaty banning these weapons, which has gathered the support of 82 countries in just seven months.

Click here <http://www.stopclustermunitions.org/news.asp?id=91> to read the Cluster Munitions Coalition press release.

6) Norway Leads Charge in Landmine and Cluster Bomb Divestment

(October 12) - The biggest equity owner in Europe, the Norwegian Government Pension Fund, announced last month that it would divest from companies producing cluster bombs and landmines, among other weapons. The Fund is part of a growing list of investment funds which have divested from cluster bomb producing companies, joining: AXA (a French investment firm which had previously invested $5.5 billion in cluster bomb producing companies) and the five most prominent banks in Belgium.

Click here <http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-sun_norway0923sep23,0,5687946.story> to read the Chicago Tribune’s story on Norway’s decision to divest.
Click here <http://www.netwerkvlaanderen.be/en/> for more information on cluster bomb divestment.

For more information on the US Campaign to Ban Landmines, go to www.banminesusa.org

U.S. Campaign to Ban Landmines
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245 2nd Street NE
Washington, DC 20002
phone: (202) 547-6000
fax: (202) 547-6019
Email: landmines@fcnl.org

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