Treaty will stigmatise use of cluster bombs
Updated
In two months, the international treaty banning cluster bombs will open for signatures in Norway.
Laos, the most heavily cluster bomb infested nation in the world is calling on all Asian states to announce their intent to sign. It's just hosted a regional conference to bring together all Asian nations to build support for the Convention on Cluster Munitions.
Presenter: Sen Lam
Speaker: John Dingley, senior technical advisor to government clearance operator, UXO LAO
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DINGLEY: Yes, cluster munitions are bombs that explode in the air and scatter submunitions or here in Laos they call them bombees which then are designed to detonate in different ways, either by impact or time delay etc. But unfortunately, they are an extremely unreliable weapon system and many of those submunitions don't explode. In fact globally we found that up to 30 per cent, and particular here in Laos, it could even be higher, don't explode when they hit the ground and are left lying around after the war has finished and certainly the war here in Laos finished some 35 years ago. And like Lebanon more recently, where cluster munitions were used, they lay around after the war and caused many civilian casualties.
The other problem with cluster munitions is they are not accurate. They are an area weapon and as a result cannot be sort of be used and targeted so accurately, so often affect and hit civilian areas direct conflict.
LAM: And John, was there any progress made at the meeting in Vientiane this week?
DINGLEY: There certainly was. We actually held the meeting in Xiengkhouang which is in fact the most impacted province probably in the world by cluster munitions. It's the most impacted province here in Laos and as the most impacted countries that probably makes it the most impacted in the world. The meeting was attended by all ASEAN countries, except for Singapore and Malaysia and Laos announced yet again reaffirmed its willingness to sign and also encouraged all its neighbouring states and ASEAN partners to sign up. And in fact during the conference we received very good news that also Australia will be signing up. Your foreign minister announced it during the conference and so your representative there from the embassy, Emily Russell was able to announce to the conference.
LAM: But really at the end of the day, the ASEAN countries and Australia, they are not the problem are they? I mean 107 countries agreed to ban the use and production and transfer of these ammunitions in Dublin in May. But major producers like the US, Russia, China, India. They did not attend those talks. So may we expect them to come on board? How realistic is it to expect them to listen?
DINGLEY: It's very hard to say. I think with the big countries as it's the same countries we're talking about who didn't sign up to the anti-personnel mine ban treaty the Ottawa Process as it is called. But the good news is with that process, even those bigger countries, all of them have really stopped the transfer and the use of mines. They have stigmatised the use of mines by having the AP mine ban treaty. So we're hoping that the cluster bomb treaty will have a similar affect on those big producers and ultimately we hope that those big producers will come on board and understand that it is an unacceptable weapon system.
LAM: And what about some countries who insist that certain types of cluster bombs be excluded. Might that significantly water down the treaty?
DINGLEY: No, not at all. In fact the treaty has not been watered down. There were long discussions at Dublin where it was decided at Dublin by the attendants at Dublin to keep this treaty strong and to say all cluster munitions and that's the way it is going, which may keep some of the bigger countries, particularly the US out at the moment, but hopefully it will stigmatise the use of any cluster munitions to such a degree that world opinion would stop them using them.
