In 2006, Israeli indiscriminate use of several million cluster bombs against Lebanese civilian population raised much outcry across the world. Most of these were fired in the last seventy two hours of the conflict. UN officials estimates claim that southern Lebanon is saturated with 1 million unexploded bomblets, far outnumbering the 650,000 people living in the impoverished region of Southern Lebanon. This devastation against humanity, which led to many Lebanese wounded, homeless or dead, galvanized much public and diplomatic opinion.
Cluster bombs are volatile explosives dispersed in tens and hundreds of lethal bomblets over a wide area either via aircraft or in a land-based system via rockets. Many of these bomblets do not even explode on impact, hence remaining fatal for the civilian population, particularly for the children who may mistake these lethal explosives for innocent toys. Michael Slackman of International Herald Tribune, when speaking of the Israeli usage of cluster bombs in Lebanon, quotes on October 6, 2006 “They are stuck in the branches of olive trees and the broad leaves of banana trees. They are on rooftops, mixed in with rubble, littered across fields, farms, driveways, roads and outside schools.”
At this moment, right now, more than 100 world leaders, collected in Dublin for a diplomatic conference, are negotiating over the details of a ban on cluster bombs. For over four decades, these explosives have been used by industrialized nations in “wars” against poorer nations spreading from Laos to Lebanon, causing much devastation amongst their civilian populations. Representatives from countries like UK, France, and Germany along with others from around the globe are deliberating over the details that a cluster bomb treaty should cover - they are wondering whether cluster bombs should be banned fully or not.
Not surprisingly enough, influential powers like Britian, France and Germany do not want to see a "complete ban" on cluster bombs! The British Government is calling for a ban but is asking for some exemptions that would allow it to retain some cluster munitions in its arsenal.
If a treaty is formed calling out for a comprehensive ban on cluster bombs, countries with clashing interests like Britain have the option of walking away from signing the negotiation. Although every country has an equal vote, Ireland, the chairing country, is faced with the challenge of balancing the interests of the majority smaller nations versus the major users like Britain, whose signature will lend a sense of legitimacy to the treaty. Furthermore, there is nothing to stop the more powerful countries, in the future, to undertake coalition operations in partnership with the United States for example which is not signing the Cluster Ban treaty.
The treaty scheduled to be signed in November this year will be the most significant step since the Mine Ban treaty signed ten years ago. Despite the fact that the United States, Russia and China have not signed the Mine Ban treaty and will not sign the Cluster Ban either, they will find their future actions affected by the outcome of this Treaty.
Treaties like these are highly influential in manipulating the mind-sets of the public at large. Just as land-mines are derided the world over today, cluster bombs have and will become more detestable by the masses. A survey by coalition group of Oxfam, Amnesty, and Landmine Action disclosed that eight out of ten Britons believe that cluster bombs should be banned. Organizations like these, Human Rights Watch, Handicap International and others have combined their energies to resound the voices of the millions around the world calling for a comprehensive and hence complete ban on cluster bombs. These humanitarian organizations coupled with the power of the public, will make even the most powerful country think twice before using a menacing weapon like cluster bomb against innocent population of a country. This is the lesson learnt from the process leading to the ban on landmines that came into effect in 1997.
We need to realize that what we want is a complete ban on cluster bombs - no exceptions. We have to make a resolution for a more peaceful today and a more secure tomorrow for our children. Public outcry, like the one that followed the bombing of Lebanon, can combine to create unstoppable momentum. We don't want the influential powers to undermine moves towards a total ban on the use of cluster bombs. With our voices combined, and our hands joined, together we can make the painful memories of cluster bombs a distant fact from our history.
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