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POLITICS: U.S. Agrees to Talks on Cluster Bombs

Abra Pollock

WASHINGTON, Nov 8 2007 (IPS) - As anti-cluster bomb advocates rallied in 40 cities around the world on Monday as part of a Global Day of Action, the United States delegation to a U.N. conference in Geneva this week announced a reversal of its longstanding opposition to negotiations on cluster munitions.

"How to deal with the issue of cluster munitions is the most important topic at this meeting," said Ronald J. Bettauer in the U.S. delegation's opening statement at the week-long conference, which convenes states parties to the U.N. Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW).

Yet the U.S. delegation did not clarify what its stance would be on restricting or banning the use of cluster munitions. "While we have taken no position yet as to the outcome of negotiations on this topic, we did determine that we should support the initiation of a negotiation on cluster munitions within the CCW framework," Bettauer said.

For the past 40 years, cluster bombs have killed and maimed thousands of civilians, as numerous bomblets from any wartime barrage of cluster bombs often remain unexploded for years, or even decades. In Laos, which was heavily bombed by the U.S. during the Vietnam War, 12,000 civilians have been killed or injured since the last bomb was dropped in 1973.

Only two percent of cluster bomb casualties worldwide are military personnel, according to a recent report by Handicap International. The other 98 percent are civilian victims.

Cluster bomblets' unique shape and colourful appearance also make them attractive to children.

In Lebanon, a target of cluster bombing during the Israeli-Hezbollah war of 2006, community workers have even created special games and activities to teach children about cluster bombs, said Bassam Chamoun, who directs cluster bomb awareness campaigns in southern Lebanon.

The U.S. delegation's call for negotiations at this week's CCW review conference lies in stark contrast with its role at the 2006 conference, where it was "the most steadfast opponent" of moving forward on the topic, according to Thomas Nash of the Cluster Munitions Coalition, a network of 200 civilian protection groups and a co-sponsor of the Global Day of Action.

Rights advocates note that the U.S.'s renewed interest in initiating negotiations within the CCW forum has emerged concurrently – but perhaps not coincidentally – with the growing momentum of a separate, parallel international negotiating track known as the Oslo Process.

In February 2007, representatives from 46 states gathered in Oslo for a summit on cluster bombs organised by the Norwegian government. Participating countries have met twice since then, in Brussels and Belgrade, and the number of governments committed to taking part in the Oslo Process to ban the production, stockpiling, and use of cluster munitions by the end of 2008 has risen to 84 – over one-third of the world's governments.

By opposing the Oslo Process, and instead underlining its commitment to the CCW, the U.S. "is trying to gain control of the situation again," according to Lora Lumpe of the Friends Committee on National Legislation.

Whereas the CCW forum is dominated by the U.S., China and Russia – all major producers of cluster munitions – many participants active in the Oslo Process are countries that have been bombed, such as Afghanistan, Lebanon, Serbia and Laos.

"The Oslo Process arose out of the frustration of many states that the CCW process was not addressing the humanitarian crisis presented by cluster munitions," said Ed Kenny, senior programme officer at Handicap International. "When you have a setup that requires consensus with superpowers, you keep hitting brick walls."

The U.S. is a major supplier of cluster munitions, with a stockpile of close to one billion bomblets.

Legislation pending in the U.S. Congress known as the "Cluster Munitions Civilian Protection Act of 2007" would prohibit the use, sale and transfer of U.S.-made cluster munitions with bomblets that have a failure rate of more than one percent. Current failure rates of cluster bombs from U.S. stockpiles – some of which date back to the Vietnam era – may be as high as 23 percent.

During Monday's Global Day of Action, the U.S. Campaign to Ban Landmines called for bipartisan support for the legislation at a rally on Capitol Hill featuring Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Jody Williams and Congressman Jim Moran.

Still, many advocates believe that the Oslo Process offers the most proactive approach to eliminating the use of cluster bombs and of protecting civilian lives, due to its roadmap.

The Oslo timeline for completing a treaty binding under international law has already been set. Representatives from participating countries will meet again next month in Vienna, the treaty will be developed at a conference in May 2008, and organisers hope to have it signed and completed by December 2008.

In contrast, a "mandate to negotiate" is the most forceful outcome that could be hoped for from the CCW review meeting this week, according to Kenny. This outcome, promoted by the U.S. delegation, in essence would mean agreeing to continue talks, albeit in a negotiations setting.

Unlike the CCW, which some advocates have described as using a "go-slow approach", "the Oslo Process is pretty much unstoppable," said Nash, speaking to IPS from Geneva. Indeed, for many participating governments and rights activists, U.S. opposition to the Oslo Process is no longer a concern.

"If you can manage to get most of the world on board with a norm – a basic moral practice – then you make it increasingly difficult for other countries not to adhere to it," Nash said. "If you create that standard, and it's strong enough, it quickly becomes the standard by which other countries will be judged."