EPPN seeks support for ban on cluster munitions

By ENS staff, October 23, 2009 [Episcopal News Service] The Episcopal Public Policy Network (EPPN) has issued an appeal to church members to urge U.S. President Barack Obama to sign the Convention on Cluster Munitions and work for its ratification by Congress.

"You may have heard of land mines but not of cluster bombs," says an EPPN alert sent by e-mail on Oct. 22. "Instead of being placed in the ground, cluster bombs are containers filed with smaller bombs that are dropped from the air or fired from land or sea. They open in midair and the bomblets then spread over a large area, killing or injuring those on the ground, regardless of whether they are combatants or civilians. Like unexploded landmines, they are a continuing lethal threat to all living in the area, particularly children who often think they are toys."

 EPPN's alert asks its 25,000 recipients – Episcopalians and others -- to write to ask Obama to sign the Convention on Cluster Munitions and urge the Senate to see that it is ratified promptly. This international treaty prohibits cluster munitions, requires clearance of areas contaminated by unexploded cluster bomb duds, and establishes provisions for assistance to victims of these weapons. Once 30 countries have ratified the treaty the convention will become binding in six months. As of Oct. 22, 23 nations have signed.
 
In addition, EPPN calls on Obama to ask the U.S. Department of Defense to ensure that U.S.-made cluster munitions are not used in or near civilian-populated areas, whether used by the U.S. or its allies, and provide increased assistance for programs to clear away unexploded bombs.

The Convention on Cluster Munitions prohibits all use, stockpiling, production and transfer of cluster munitions. Separate articles in the convention concern assistance to victims, clearance of contaminated areas and destruction of stockpiles.

The onvention was adopted in Dublin by 107 nations on May 30, 2008 and signed on December 3 the same year. The convention is a result of a diplomatic process that included the Cluster Munition Coalition, the International Committee of the Red Cross and the United Nations. The process was launched when 46 countries agreed to the February 2007 Oslo Declaration, committing them to "conclude by 2008 a legally binding international instrument that prohibits the use and stockpiling of cluster munitions that cause unacceptable harm to civilians and secure adequate provision of care and rehabilitation to survivors and clearance of contaminated areas."

Further information and details on how to take action are available here.