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48 Nations Gather to Fight Cluster Bombs
The Cluster Munition Coalition, an advocacy group co-hosting Wednesday's civilian forum, said the weapons have recently been used in Iraq, Kosovo, Afghanistan and Lebanon.
The U.N. has estimated that Israel dropped as many as 4 million of the bomblets in southern Lebanon during last year's war with Hezbollah, with as many 40 percent failing to explode on impact.
  Steve Goose from the Human Rights Watch Cluster Monition Coalition, participates in the opening of a conference on cluster bombs in Oslo Thursday Feb. 22, 2007. A 48-nation meeting on cluster bombs opened in Oslo on Thursday with Austria pledging to ban the weapons and organizers saying an international treaty outlawing the munitions could be achieved by 2008. (AP Photo/Stian Lysberg Solum, SCANPIX) (Stian Lysberg Solum - AP) PHOTOS |
Activists say children can be attracted to the unexploded weapons by their small size, shape and bright colors or shiny metal surfaces. As many as 60 percent of cluster bomb victims in Southeast Asia are children, the Cluster Munition Coalition said.
The U.S., Russia, China, India, Pakistan and Japan say the weapons can be dealt with under the 1980 U.N. Convention on Conventional Weapons.
However, treaty advocates say those talks are stalled, and a new avenue is needed.
Gahr Stoere said advocates should push for a treaty even without the support of big countries like the U.S. and China.
"I think we learned from the experience from the anti-personnel mine campaign in the '90s that if we were to wait for those countries to take the lead it will be a long wait," he said at a news conference.
"What we do here hopefully will engage those countries and that they will see merit to create rules and regulations to handle this issue. I'm not pessimistic in that regard."
On Wednesday, Simon Conway, of the Britain's Landmine Action group, said some countries attending the conference may seek to weaken the one-page draft declaration by demanding postponement of its treaty target date of 2008.
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