Last week's conference on cluster munitions in Beirut ended with delegates from over 100 countries agreeing on major provisions to the treaty that hopes to eventually outlaw their use, end production, stockpiling and the transfer of cluster munitions globally. Lebanon knows the use of cluster munitions all too well, with the month-long war with Israel in 2006 witnessing their use in abundance. As many as four million cluster bombs were dropped on the country during the 33-day war. The use of cluster bombs by the Israeli military against the Lebanese people is considered a major driving factor behind the adoption of the convention in May 2008. “Israel used extensively cluster munitions in southern Lebanon during the 2006 war, which provided a great help and encouraged international community to get this treaty done in 2008,” Ayman Soruos from the Protection of Armament and Consequences told reporters at the conference. During the conference, delegates were able to have first-hand experience and accounts of the weapons use on Lebanese territory, visiting sites and talking with people who experienced the horrific weapons “Many delegates who came here, diplomats who are used to going Geneva, to New York and sitting in a room and looking at paper all day and debating resolutions… this is very a different experience for them to go down to meet the people who have been affected by cluster ammunitions,” said May Wareham from Human Rights Watch. More than 200,000 unexploded cluster munitions have since been discovered and safely detonated in the country, but according to the UN mission in the country, some three million remain in southern parts of the country. An international convention on cluster munitions has been in force for over a year that requires signatories to give up the use, production, stockpiling and transfer of the weapons. All the countries, which participated in the Lebanon conference, have joined the convention. The United States, Israel and Russia manufacture and stockpile most of the world's cluster munitions. They are among countries who have not signed the treaty. International researchers say the US has transferred hundreds of thousands of cluster munitions, containing tens of millions of bomblets, to 28 countries in the world. The worst affected countries are Lebanon, Iraq, Afghanistan and now Libya. The conference was a step in the right direction, but international rights groups, namely Amnesty International and HRW continue to call on all nations to end their use. As one delegate said, “we are moving forward, but work is not even close to being finished until we get all countries to end this weapon of war.” BM
