16 November 2011
CONVENTION ON CLUSTER MUNITIONS TAKES FIRM HOLD
GENEVA, 16 November 2011—The international treaty banning cluster munitions is having a powerful impact after just one year of implementation, according to Cluster Munition Monitor 2011, a global report launched today at the UN in Geneva."This report shows how governments that have joined the Convention on Cluster Munitions are getting down to the business of implementing its provisions with great vigor and enthusiasm," said Steve Goose, chair of the Cluster Munition Coalition and an editor of Cluster Munition Monitor 2011. "From stockpile destruction to clearance to new laws, we are witnessing impressive efforts as nations embrace this convention."Cluster Munition Monitor 2011 details progress made in implementing the Convention on Cluster Munitions, the legally-binding treaty which 111 states have now joined, agreeing to ban this deadly, indiscriminate weapon. Of states that have used produced, exported, or stockpiled cluster munitions, 38 have now joined the Convention on Cluster Munitions, thereby committing to never engage in those activities again.
- Eleven States Parties have completed destruction of their cluster munition stockpiles (Afghanistan, Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Ecuador, Moldova, Montenegro, Norway, Portugal, Slovenia, and Spain), and the other 13 States Parties with stockpiles have committed to destroy them by the convention’s eight-year deadline.
- Collectively, States Parties have destroyed nearly 600,000 cluster munitions containing more than 64.5 million submunitions.
- Two of the world’s biggest stockpilers—Germany (67 million submunitions) and the United Kingdom (39 million submunitions)—have already destroyed half of their respective stocks.
- Five countries that have signed but not yet ratified the treaty have already completed destruction of their stockpiles (Angola, Colombia, Honduras, Hungary, and Iraq).
- Since the treaty entered into force on 1 August 2010, an additional 28 countries have become States Parties, including Afghanistan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Lebanon, which are all contaminated by cluster munition remnants. Of the 28 countries, 25 were signatories that ratified the convention and three countries —Grenada, Swaziland, and Trinidad and Tobago— acceded, a one-step process equivalent to signature and ratification to the treaty.
- Fifteen countries have enacted national legislation to implement the convention, including the Cook Islands, Czech Republic, Ecuador, and Italy in 2011.
- Sixteen of the 28 countries still contaminated by cluster munitions have signed or ratified the treaty and significant clearance measures were reported in most of the affected States Parties. In 2010, at least 59,978 unexploded submunitions were destroyed during clearance operations around the world and more than 18.5km2 of cluster munition contaminated land was cleared.
- Cluster Munition Monitor estimates that there have been at least 16,921 casualties of cluster munitions. All survivors require sustained support to recover from their injuries and contribute to their families, communities, and society as a whole.