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46 Nations Push for Cluster Bomb Treaty
He said the U.S. has spent about $1 billion over the past decade to help clean up unexploded munitions in East Asia, Southeast Europe and the Middle East. He added, however, that cluster bombs "do have a place and a use in military inventories."
Norwegian Deputy Foreign Minister Raymond Johansen, who co-chaired the Oslo talks, said the discussions were not intended to replace the U.N. negotiations, but simply to energize the process. "This meeting has been very successful," he said. "Our goal is to reach the same number of countries as the land mine treaty _ 153."
  Silhouettes representing the 2,982 children confirmed killed by by cluster bombs that exploded long after wars in their countries ended, crowd a snowy square outside the Nobel Peace Center in Oslo, Norway, Wednesday, Feb. 21, 2007. A 48-nation meeting called by Norway in a drive to ban cluster bombs opens in Oslo on Thursday, despite being snubbed by the United States, Russia and China. Norway hopes to initiate a worldwide drive against cluster bombs similar to the one banning anti-personnel mines, negotiated in Oslo in 1997. (AP Photo/Doug Mellgren) (Doug Mellgren - AP) PHOTOS |
Norway called for the Oslo talks after the latest round of U.N. negotiations on cluster munitions failed in November. Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere said the 1997 effort to ban land mines showed that waiting for the major powers to come around would take too long, and that other countries have to push ahead.
"We have given ourselves a strict deadline for concluding our efforts," he said. "This is ambitious, but we have to respond to the urgency of this humanitarian problem."
The declaration urges nations to "conclude by 2008 a legally binding international instrument" to "prohibit the use, production, transfer and stockpiling of those cluster munitions that cause unacceptable harm to civilians."
It also calls on countries to take steps at a national level before the treaty takes effect. Austria, Belgium and Norway already have cluster bomb bans, and Bosnia has announced plans to enact one, organizers said.
The declaration said treaty talks would be held in Peru and Austria later this year and in Ireland in early 2008.
"Countries that we thought would walk away from these proceedings have decided to support them," said Simon Conway, a delegate from Britain's Land Mine Action group. "With Germany, Canada and Britain on board, those who say this was just a couple of small nations are wrong."
Steve Goose of Human Rights Watch said the major powers don't need to be involved for the treaties to have an impact, since say the point is to stigmatize such weapons.
"If you need proof that you can conclude a treaty without the United States, Russia and China, look at the land mine treaty," he said. Despite rejecting that treaty, Goose said, the major powers have stopped deploying land mines and the number of civilian casualties has been cut in half since 1997.
In addition to the U.S., China and Russia, other countries that did not attend the Oslo conference included Australia, India and Pakistan.
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