CLUSTER MUNITIONS ISSUE
By
Sally Ramage


The hot issue of the day is cluster munitions and the indiscriminate damage that they cause. So let’s discuss cluster munitions for a moment and when we understand the crux of the issue, we must activate ourselves to spread awareness of the subject and lobby Parliament to ratify the cluster munitions Protocol which the UK government signed but has not yet ratified. We must act urgently because this cluster munitions Protocol, even though signed by many countries, cannot become binding international law until it is ratified by all the countries that signed this Protocol V.

What’s this Protocol all about, then? Protocol V makes a country responsible for clearing all explosive remnants of war in territory under its control and to provide warnings, risk education and other measures to protect civilian populations. If the UK uses weapons that leave behind explosive remnants, as cluster munitions do, the UK must provide assistance for clearance, even if the territory in question is not under UK control.

What does this all mean and how does it affect the UK government?
Well, we manufacture cluster munitions in this country and we use it in other countries and we sell it to other countries. Who knows if our own manufactured cluster munitions have not killed some of our own soldiers?

Why should the UK government be ashamed of itself for not yet ratifying this Protocol V?

Because to date many other countries have ratified the Protocol- in fact, the countries showing willing in this respect are Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, El Salvador, Finland, France, Germany, Holy See, India, Ireland, Liberia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Nicaragua, Norway, Sierra Leone, Slovakia, Sweden, Switzerland, Tajikstan and Ukraine, but not the United Kingdom (nor the United States for that matter!)

Why else are we disgraced by not yet ratifying this Protocol?

Because there are remnants of cluster munitions still around the world, putting people at risk of losing their limbs. “World War 2” cluster munitions’ remnants were found in Russia, Belarus, Chile, and the Eritrean/Ethopian border, Kenya, Namibia, Serbia and Montenegro.The UK Armed Forces say they do keep records of munitions used during combat operations and that their data is available to all! Really? The UK is known to have used L20A1 munitions which contain 49 sub-munitions, equipped with self-destruct mechanism, yet, unexploded L20A1 were found in some post-conflict environments.

Also, the UK, together with the Royal Army of Oman and its other allies Jordan and Iran, used cluster munitions in the Dhofar region between 1964 and 1975 during an internal conflict between the Government of Oman and the Communist Separatist group, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Oman (PFLO). We are ashamed and rightly so.
Please let’s do something about it as we think about related dreadful facts-
90% of casualties of cluster munitions in Iraq were men and boys, 94% in Lebanon, 88% in Afghanistan, 86% in Cambodia, 87% in Chad and 70% in Guinea Bassau. This tells us that the innocent who are maimed by cluster munitions are men, children and women.
ENDS