CAIRO: The Egyptian foreign ministry has said that it welcomes an international ban on cluster munitions, which went into affect on Sunday. Foreign Ministry spokesman Hossam Zaki said the ban is a good idea and that his country will look at the convention in detail. Egypt has not signed the treaty and said it will not sign the convention as long as major users of cluster munitions remain on the outside of the international framework, Zaki said. He did however, hail the Convention on Cluster Munitions as a “landmark step on eliminating a peril which causes extensive harm to mankind, saying Egypt fully supports its objectives.” The ministry added that although the government had participated in the talks that mapped out the treaty in 2008, Cairo has yet to sign the deal because it believes the convention is missing a number of points “such as it does not ban those cluster munitions made use of advanced technology.” He added that Egypt hoped future review conferences would work out a remedy for the shortcomings of the treaty which consolidates global disarmament efforts. Countries that have not signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions should join without delay, Human Rights Watch said in a statement over the weekend ahead of the ban. “August 1 is the start of the formal life of the treaty and the end of the legitimacy of this indiscriminate weapon that has caused so much civilian suffering,” said Steve Goose, Arms Division director at Human Rights Watch. “The stigma against cluster munitions is now so strong that no nation should ever use them again.” The convention was negotiated in Dublin in May 2008 and opened for signature in Oslo in December 2008. To date, 107 governments have signed the convention, of which 37 have ratified. The Convention on Cluster Munitions completely prohibits the use, production, and trade of cluster munitions, requires destruction of stockpiled cluster munitions within eight years, clearance of cluster munition-contaminated areas within ten years, and assistance to affected communities and cluster munition survivors. On August 1, its provisions become fully and legally binding on all countries that have both signed and ratified. Ratification enables countries to participate as full states parties to the convention at its First Meeting of States Parties to be held in Vientiane, Laos from November 8 to 12. “Nations that remain outside this treaty are missing out on the most significant advance in disarmament of the past decade,” Goose said. “If governments care enough about humanitarian law and protecting civilians from the deadly effects of armed conflict, they will join immediately.” BM
