Tides Center project united to turn grief into action for peace

By: US Campaign to Ban Landmines and Cluster Bombs

September 10, 2008 - Members of September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows, an organization founded by family members of those killed, who have united to turn their grief into action for peace, lend their support to a global campaign working to ban cluster bombs. They will join with international campaigners at an event in New York on Friday, September 12th to raise awareness about the campaign.

"I have seen very young children in Afghanistan with artificial arms and legs from having picked up cluster submunitions that are brightly colored and attract children who think they are toys," said Adele Welty, a member of Peaceful Tomorrows whose fire fighter son died in the 9/11 attacks. "No one in this country is aware of the constant danger to people in many countries, most of them children, from thousands of these explosive devices still buried and live, waiting in deadly traps under the earth."

Campaigners say signing the cluster bomb treaty will re-establish America's standing in the world and improve its foreign relations. They are appealing to all presidential candidates to consider the treaty as an initial step in a new and better foreign policy.

"If the US wants to promote security at home and abroad it should be signing international treaties that protect civilians during and after armed conflict," said Lora Lumpe, Coordinator of the US Campaign to Ban Landmines and Cluster Bombs. "Banning cluster munitions would be a strong message to the world that the US is a force for peace, not aggression."

Cluster munitions are outdated and indiscriminate weapons that kill too many civilians at the time of use and for years after when they fail to explode on impact.

"Cluster bombs are an inappropriate weapon for the type of war we fight today, when you're fighting for the people, amongst the people," said Simon Conway, former soldier and a Cluster Munition Coalition spokesperson. "If you are fighting for the hearts and minds of the people, you're not going to achieve that with indiscriminate killers like cluster bombs."

Since the 9/11 attacks, the US has used cluster bombs in Afghanistan in 2001 and 2002 and in Iraq in 2003, causing hundreds of civilians casualties.

The Bush Administration has been a staunch opponent to the treaty, which was formally adopted by 107 nations in Dublin on 30 May 2008. The negotiations were attended by Senator Patrick Leahy who, with Senator Dianne Feinstein, championed a measure signed into law that prohibits the export of cluster bombs.

The Convention on Cluster Munitions will be signed by the majority of the world's governments in Norway, on 3 December 2008. It will immediately ban the use, production, transfer and stockpiling of cluster bombs and ensure medical, socio-economic and psychological support is given to victims, including clearance of contaminated land.

What are cluster bombs?

Cluster munitions are large weapons which are deployed from the air and from the ground and release up to hundreds of smaller submunitions. Submunitions released by airdropped cluster bombs are most often called "bomblets," while those delivered from the ground by artillery or rockets are usually referred to as "grenades."

What's the problem with this weapon?

Air-dropped or ground-launched, they cause two major humanitarian problems and risks to civilians. First, their widespread dispersal means they cannot distinguish between military targets and civilians so the humanitarian impact can be extreme, especially when the weapon is used in or near populated areas. Many submunitions fail to detonate on impact and become de facto antipersonnel mines killing and maiming people long after the conflict has ended. These duds are more lethal than antipersonnel mines; incidents involving submunition duds are much more likely to cause death than injury.

Who has used cluster munitions?

At least 14 countries have used cluster munitions: Eritrea, Ethiopia, France, Georgia, Israel, Morocco, the Netherlands, Nigeria, Russia (USSR), Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Tajikistan, UK, US, and FR Yugoslavia. A small number of non-state armed groups have used the weapon (such as Hezbollah in Lebanon in 2006). Billions of submunitions are stockpiled by some 76 countries. A total of 34 states are known to have produced over 210 different types cluster munitions. More than two dozen countries have been affected by the use of cluster munitions including Afghanistan, Albania, Angola, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cambodia, Chad, Croatia, DR Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Georgia, Grenada, Iraq, Israel, Kuwait, Laos, Lebanon, Montenegro, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Syria, Tajikistan, Uganda, and Vietnam, as well as Chechnya, Falkland/Malvinas, Nagorno-Karabakh, and Western Sahara.

Why is a ban on cluster munitions necessary?

Simply put, cluster munitions kill and injure too many civilians. The weapon caused more civilian casualties in Iraq in 2003 and Kosovo in 1999 than any other weapon system. Cluster munitions stand out as the weapon that poses the gravest dangers to civilians since antipersonnel mines, which were banned in 1997. Yet there is currently no provision in international law to specifically address problems caused by cluster munitions. Israel's massive use of the weapon in Lebanon in August 2006 resulted in more than 200 civilian casualties in the year following the ceasefire and served as the catalyst that has propelled governments to attempt to secure a legally-binding international instrument tackling cluster munitions in 2008.

States that adopted the Convention on Cluster Munitions (107):

Albania, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Bahrain, Belgium, Belize, Benin, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Brunei Darussalam, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Canada, Chad, Chile, Comoros, Republic of Congo, Cook Islands, Costa Rica, Cote d'Ivoire, Croatia, Czech Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Estonia, Fiji, Finland, France, Germany, Ghana, Guatemala, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Holy See, Honduras, Hungary, Iceland, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Lao PDR, Lebanon, Lesotho, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia (FYR), Madagascar, Malawi, Malaysia, Mali, Malta, Mauritania, Mexico, Moldova, Montenegro, Morocco, Mozambique, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Niger, Nigeria, Norway, Palau, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Portugal, Qatar, Samoa, San Marino, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Serbia, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sudan, Swaziland, Sweden, Switzerland, Tanzania, Timor-Leste, Togo, Uganda, United Kingdom, Uruguay, Vanuatu, Venezuela and Zambia.

Contact:
September Eleventh Families for Peaceful Tomorrows
office(at)peacefultomorrows.org
Phone: 212.598.0970