A cluster bomb, or cluster munitions, consists of a container filled with lots of smaller bombs (submunitions). These containers might be dropped from aircraft or fired from the ground. Breaking open in midair, the container releases the submunitions - saturating an area the size of several football fields. Anybody within that area, be they military or civilian, is likely to be torn apart. Cluster munitions kill and injure civilians at the time of use. They indiscriminately scatter explosives over a wide area and many of the bomblets or submunitions fail to explode on impact. They remain on the ground and function as landmines that kill and injure civilians long after conflict. Children are more at risk than adults of being maimed or killed by these bomblets as they are easily attracted by their toy-like size and shape.

The humanitarian impact of the use of cluster munitions is devastating and not conform the principles of international humanitarian law. The principles of proportionality and the discrimination between civilian and military targets are endangered because of the specific and indiscriminative features of cluster munitions.

Since 2003, IKV Pax Christi has worked towards international legislation that protects civilians after a conflict against the effects of cluster munitions. The result is the Convention on Cluster Munitions. In December 2008, 94 countries, including the Netherlands, signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions in Oslo. The convention categorically bans the use, stockpiling, transfer and production of cluster munitions.

 

The Convention officially entered into force on 1 August 2010, after the required 30th ratification was a fact. This means that the State Parties are legally bound by the Convention's obligations. IKV Pax Christi celebrated this important milestone in The Hague. Joined by a percussion band we visited the embassies of Georgia, Israel, Russia, and the United States to encourage them to join the CCM. Here you find the movie of the action. You can read more bout the events that took place worldwide to celebrate the entry into force.

 

In November 2010 the First Meeting of States Parties took place in Lao PDR. In Vientiane, states that are party to the convention agreed on steps to implement the treaty’s provisions. You can find the resulting 66-points Vientiane Action Plan here.

The year 2011 was off to a good start: the Netherlands ratified the CCM in February 2011. This means that it officially entered into force for the Netherlands 6 months later, on 1 August 2011. IKV Pax Christi celebrated this moment with an action in The Hague and encouraged the Netherlands to implement the obligations as strongly as possible.

This is the first year after the CCM entered into force which means the States Parties are legally bound by its obligations. During the Second Meeting of States Parties (2MSP), that took place in Lebanon from 12-16 September 2011, states reported on their progress to implement the treaty’s provisions. Belgium, Austria, Portugal, Spain, Ecuador, Moldova, Slovenia, Montenegro and Norway have already completed the destruction of their stockpiles. Albania and Zambia have already cleared all their land of (unexploded) cluster munitions remnants. Click here for the Beirut Declaration that States Parties adopted in Lebanon.

 

IKV Pax Christi is dedicated to reach a strict implementation (also including a ban on investments in producers of cluster munitions) of the Convention and encourages countries that have not yet signed the treaty to do so as soon as possible. According to IKV Pax Christi a strict implementation of the Convention also implies a ban on investments in producers of cluster munitions and IKV Pax Christi advocates to achieve this ban. Read more.