European Parliament urges Member States to ban cluster bombs
November 19, 2008 12:00 AM
Scottish Liberal Democrat MEP Elspeth Attwooll today appealed for all EU member states to sign the UN Convention on Cluster Munitions when the document opens for signatures this coming December.
This comes as the European Parliament put an oral question to the European Council, asking what steps it has taken to encourage all member states to commit to the outlawing of all cluster munitions.
The text of the Convention was agreed by over 100 countries at a May summit in Dublin. The UK Government recently restated its commitment to eradicating cluster bombs from the UK armed forces. But some EU member states have indicated that they are not prepared to sign.
Each cluster bomb is made up of about 200 smaller bombs, which are designed to explode over large areas. This means that they cannot be properly targeted and can fail to detonate on impact, thus producing long-term dangers.
Elspeth said:
"European Union countries should lead the way in promoting a complete ban on the use of these terrible, inhumane devices. All member states must sign, and I appeal to those still hesitating to make the right decision. This is not the time to drag heels. Keeping these weapons is simply unacceptable."
END
For more, see: http://www.clusterconvention.org/ and http://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/public/story_page/031-42127-322-11-47-903-20081114STO42065-2008-17-11-2008/default_en.htm
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