Historic Ban on Cluster Weapons

Historic ban on cluster weapons celebrated in Oslo

Even though many major powers were missing, the mood was cheerful when the convention against cluster weapons was signed in Oslo City Hall. In the middle of the ceremony, Afghanistan also decided to sign the treaty.

The message from President Hamid Karzai came as a big surprise. When his representatives announced that they had been instructed to sign the treaty, a loud cheer when up in the city hall.

This was a pleasant surprise. “Afghanistan had previously said that they cannot sign because they are a nation at war, and disarmament is difficult,” said Grethe Østern from the organization Norwegian People’s Aid.

She is also a board member of the Cluster Munition Coalition, the organization that has been fighting for an international ban on cluster weapons.

Having Afghanistan on board is important, because the country is amongst the hardest hit by cluster weapons.

A long line of foreign ministers, activists, and leaders of international organizations can celebrate that they have finally achieved what they have been working for for years: banning a weapon that kills many civilians in particular, even years after they have been dropped.

Over 120 countries were represented at City Hall, and about 100 of them were expected to sign the treaty on Wednesday or Thursday. Even though large nations like the USA, Russia, China, Pakistan and India were missing, it did not seem to dampen the enthusiasm.

Happiest in the world

“Right now I might be the happiest person in the world, even though I am injured,” says Serbian Branislav Kapetanovic (43).

He was on the first row when Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg came out to put the first signature on the treaty.

Eight years ago Kapetanovic lost both hands and legs when he was clearing an area of cluster weapons. Since then he has fought intensely for this ban along with many other victims.

They are getting much credit for the large number of countries signing this treaty. Also Norway is being credited for taking the initiative by starting the so-called “Oslo Process” two years ago.

The world will not be the same after this; a horrible form of weaponry will be destroyed and banned. “We are changing the world,” Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg said, after he had signed the treaty.

The convention is seen as the most important treaty in disarmament and humanitarianism this century. But before it is in force, it must be ratified by the parliaments of 30 countries. Norway did this on Wednesday, along with Ireland, Sierra Leone, and the Vatican.

Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Støre believes 30 countries will have ratified it by early next year. After that, he hopes that more countries will follow, and he will raise the issue with the new American administration, as will Stoltenberg.

“This has created a new international norm that will hopefully pave the way for more countries,” Støre said at a press conference while ministers and ambassadors were lining up to sign the treaty.

He underlined the fact that 18 of 26 NATO countries will sign this treaty.

“It is a strong signal about us being able to take care of our security without this type of weaponry. It will make it extremely difficult for America to use cluster weapons in joint operations,” Støre says.

Cluster weapons are not in use in Iraq or Afghanistan at present.

The convention has already made several countries begin destroying their stockpiles of cluster weapons; amongst them are Norway, Great Britain, Germany, and France.

According to Thomas Nash from the Cluster Munition Coalition (CMC) the disarmament in Great Britain is a 24-hour operation. The country has been the third largest user of cluster weapons during the last decades, and has 30 million bomblets in storage.

Nash feels that the arguments from countries like Finland and Poland, who say that they still need cluster weapons to defend their borders, does not hold water.

A line of other nations has decided that it is more important to protect civilians than to protect their borders against a fictitious enemy, Nash says.

The nations signing the treaty are obligated to ban the use, production, sale, and storage of cluster weapons. At the same time they are promising to help people who have been mutilated by the small bomblets that spread out when they are dropped and can lie hidden and undetonated in the ground for years.

Cluster weaponry has killed or wounded more than 100,000 people, a third of them children, since 1965, according to the CMC.