Today, 5 November, activists from more than 30 countries, from Afghanistan to Zambia, are participating in a Global Day of Action to Ban Cluster Bombs. In the worldwide act of solidarity, campaigners are calling on their governments to attend the Vienna Conference on Cluster Munitions, which will take place a month from today, and back the global treaty banning cluster munitions.

Find out how you can join the Cluster Munition Coalition’s Global Day of Action to Ban Cluster Bombs.

If you are in the US, call your senators and ask them to support the Cluster Munitions Civilian Protection Act (S. 594). Also read ‘US Resisting Ban on Cluster Bombs’.

5 November 2007

Press Release : Cluster Munition Coalition

Global public unites in day of action to ban cluster bombs

(London, United Kingdom, 5 November 2007.) Public actions are taking place in more than 30 countries around the world today, from Austria to Zambia, as civil society calls on all governments to adopt immediate national moratoria on the use, trade and production of cluster munitions and participate in diplomatic discussions on a new international ban treaty in Vienna in one month’s time.

The number of countries taking part in the first ever global day of action to ban cluster bombs is a sign of the public’s commitment to achieving a new treaty. It is the public, particularly in states affected by these horrendous weapons, that is driving this process and we will not stop until a ban treaty is signed next year, said Thomas Nash, Coordinator of the Cluster Munition Coalition (CMC).

Campaigners in Wellington, New Zealand kick started the events this morning by dropping thousands of cluster-bomb shaped leaflets across the city, mimicking the deployment of a cluster bomb strike. Silhouettes’ representing the all too often anonymous victims of cluster bombs are being placed in cities including Sydney, Geneva, Vienna and Washington. In London, a giant wall is being constructed outside the Mayor’s office where members of the public will post messages and cards in support of a global ban.

Today also marks a rare joint appeal by the United Nations, CMC, and UK-based Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund in support of the ban treaty with an advertising campaign featured in several newspapers worldwide. The UN is calling on all countries to freeze the use and trade of cluster bombs and negotiate an international prohibition on cluster munitions that cause unacceptable harm to civilians. The Cluster Munition Coalition urges all governments to act on this appeal.

The advert shows that as a precaution certain toys have been removed from the market because of the risk they pose to children. In some cases they have not caused any injury, but preventative measures have been taken. This is in stark contrast to cluster bombs, which are known to have killed and injured thousands of children worldwide largely a result of their colourful and intriguing shapes which attract children — but cluster bombs are still available on the international market for potential future use.

UNICEF issued a statement today marking the Global Day of Action and highlighting the particular impact cluster bombs have on children, saying that it is with urgency that we encourage all Governments to develop a legally binding instrument prohibiting cluster munitions that cause unacceptable harm to civilians, especially children.

Although public opposition to cluster munitions has existed for over 30 years, global public awareness intensified in 2006 after Belgium banned the weapon, Norway introduced a moratorium and the use of the weapon in southern Lebanon demonstrated beyond any doubt the urgent need for an international ban. As the international non-governmental Cluster Munition Coalition stepped up its calls for a new treaty, many states responded by joining a Norwegian-led initiative to conclude a new ban treaty in 2008, a process now known as the Oslo Process.

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Contact: Thomas Nash, CMC Coordinator +44 77 11 926 730

(English, French, Spanish)

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