For Immediate Release

For More Information
Lora Lumpe, Coordinator, US Campaign to Ban Landmines/FCNL
(202) 361-3028

International Mine Awareness Day, April 3
Actions kick off month of activity in U.S. to achieve cluster bomb ban

Washington DC– On Friday, April 4, tens of thousands of people in the United States and around the world will hold public events to raise awareness about the more than 70 countries contaminated with landmines, cluster bomb submunitions, and other unexploded ordnance. The United Nations called for this third annual International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action out of concern that these deadly remnants of war threaten hundreds of millions of people and inhibit farming and economic development in many of the world’s poorest countries.

The actions Friday will also serve as the kick-off in the United States for a month of action in support of a ban on cluster munitions that cause unacceptable harm to civilians.  A global treaty process to ban cluster munitions is expected to be completed during negotiations that will take place in Dublin, Ireland during May 19-30, 2008. The United States government has so far refused to participate.

“We were appalled when the U.S. government refused to sign the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty, and we are outraged that the administration is now refusing to participate in negotiations to prevent civilian casualties that result from cluster munitions,” said Lora Lumpe, coordinator of the U.S. Campaign to Ban Landmines. “Here in the United States, individuals and organizations that are a part of the U.S. Campaign to Ban Landmines will be working hard in the next few months to persuade the U.S. to join the global negotiations to protect civilians from indiscriminate weapons such as cluster bombs.”

“We are trying to persuade Congress to pass legislation that would ban the use of cluster munitions against civilians and provide more money to clean up the unexploded cluster bombs the U.S. and others have scattered around the world,” said Ed Kenny, Senior Program Officer with Handicap International US and member of the USCBL steering committee.  He noted that the United States used cluster munitions in civilian-populated areas in three conflicts in the past ten years, in all cases resulting in numerous civilian casualties. The use of these weapons caused more civilian casualties in Iraq in 2003 and in Kosovo in 1999 than any other weapon system and took a heavy toll in Afghanistan in 2001 and 2002, as well. Their widespread use in the 1991 Persian Gulf War resulted in more U.S. military casualties than any other weapon system.

Cluster munitions dropped by the United States in Southeast Asia more than 30 years ago continue to kill and maim.  The International Committee of the Red Cross estimates that more than 12,000 people have been killed or wounded in Laos since the United States’ ‘secret’ bombing campaign there ended, and there are millions of unexploded cluster bomblets still on the ground.

Congress Should Act on Cluster Bombs

The U.S. Campaign to Ban Landmines is urging every member of Congress to cosponsor the Cluster Munitions Civilian Protection Act (S.594/H.R.1755) and to support adequate levels of assistance for demining and aid to victims of landmines and other explosive remnants of war. This law would prohibit the use of cluster munitions in civilian-populated areas. It would also ban use of cluster munitions with high “dud rates,” meaning they leave behind widely dispersed minefields of unexploded cluster bomb submunitions. All but a tiny fraction of existing U.S. cluster munitions would be banned under the legislation.

To increase support for this legislation, the USCBL has declared April a month of action on cluster munitions. More than 160 citizens from 40 states and the District of Columbia have answered the call and agreed to take action in their local communities. Actions range from a house party in Arvada, CO to a de-mining fundraiser in a local Thai restaurant in Iowa City, IA to a film showing and letter-writing in Philadelphia, PA. Activists are also getting the issue out into their congregations. More than 130 faith leaders in Pennsylvania sent a letter to Senator Arlen Specter, urging him to co-sponsor S.594.

In addition, the General Conference of the United Methodist Church will consider a resolution calling for a ban on cluster bombs at is upcoming session this month.  The General Conference meets once every four years and is the highest decision making body of the United Methodist Church.

“The U.S. government continues to pursue a ‘lone ranger’ foreign policy, shunning a treaty on cluster bombs that includes more than 100 governments, including nearly all of its NATO allies,” said Mark Harrison, Director of the Peace with Justice Program of the United Methodist Church’s General Board of Church and Society and a member of the USCBL steering committee. “By endorsing the Cluster Munitions Civilian Protection Act, Congress can show the world that millions of Americans stand with the global efforts to ban cluster bombs that cause unacceptable harm to civilians.”

Background

Congress passed a law in late 2007 prohibiting U.S. exports of cluster munitions in 2008.

Several countries – including Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Hungary, the Netherlands, and Norway – have announced bans or moratoria on the use of cluster munitions.

What are cluster bombs?

Cluster munitions are large weapon canisters that release dozens or hundreds of smaller submunitions. These submunitions cover a very wide area – the size of two to four football fields, depending on the particular weapon system. Their wide-area coverage virtually guarantees civilian casualties when they are used in populated areas.

Many bomblets fail to detonate on impact and become de facto antipersonnel mines, killing and maiming people long after the conflict has ended. These duds are, however, more lethal than antipersonnel mines; incidents involving submunition duds are much more likely to cause death than injury.

Who has produced and used cluster munitions?

At least 14 countries and at least one non-state armed group have used cluster munitions: Eritrea, Ethiopia, France, Hezbollah (Lebanon), Israel, Morocco, the Netherlands, Nigeria, Russia (USSR), Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Tajikistan, the UK, the U.S., and the former Yugoslavia.  
Going back to the Vietnam War, the United States has been by far the largest user of these weapons.

Billions of submunitions are stockpiled by some 76 countries. The United States stockpiles from 750 million to one billion cluster submunitions.  Nearly all of these have high unreliability (or “dud”) rates of 5-25 percent — meaning their use will result in a large and widely dispersed minefield of bomblets.

A total of 34 states are known to have produced more than 210 different types of cluster munitions.

At least 25 countries have been affected by the use of cluster munitions, including Afghanistan, Albania, Angola, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cambodia, Chad, Croatia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Iraq, Israel, Kuwait, Laos, Lebanon, Montenegro, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Syria, Tajikistan, Uganda, and Vietnam.

What is the Oslo Process?

In February 2007, forty-six governments met in Oslo to endorse a call by Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Støre to conclude a new legally binding instrument in 2008 that prohibits the use, production, transfer, and stockpiling of cluster munitions that cause unacceptable harm and provides adequate resources to assist survivors and clear contaminated areas.

Subsequent Oslo Process meetings, including those in Peru (May 2007), Austria (December 2007), and New Zealand (February 2008) have increased the number of countries endorsing the Oslo Process treaty objective to more than 90 by the end of 2007. The number is expected to grow in coming weeks, in the lead up to the final negotiations.
Countries will negotiate the cluster munition treaty in Dublin, Ireland from May 19-30, 2008.  At this time they will agree to the final terms and language of the treaty, which will then be opened for signature on December 2-3, 2008 with a signing ceremony in Oslo, Norway (where the process began). The cluster munition treaty will represent the most significant advance in the field of disarmament since the achievement of the 1997 treaty prohibiting antipersonnel mines.

For more on cluster bombs: http://www.banclusterbombs.org

The U.S. Campaign to Ban Landmines (USCBL) is a coalition of approximately 500 U.S.-based human rights, humanitarian, faith-based, children's, peace, disability, veterans', medical, development, academic, and environmental organizations dedicated to a total ban on antipersonnel landmines. It is one of 90 country campaigns that form the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL). The Friends Committee on National Legislation, the oldest registered religious lobby in Washington, is the coordinating organization for the U.S. Campaign to Ban Landmines.