18 March 2011

States Parties should warn against use of cluster munitions in Libya

(London, 18 March 2011) - The Cluster Munition Coalition (CMC) urges all countries that have joined the Convention on Cluster Munitions (CCM) to help ensure that cluster munitions are not used by states that have not yet joined the Convention in any military action in Libya.UN Security Council resolution 1973 calls on states to take all measures to protect civilians and civilian-populated areas. Any use of cluster munitions would run contrary to purpose of the resolution, as cluster munitions have been well documented to cause predictable harm to civilians in every conflict in which they have been used.All States Parties to the CCM have a legal obligation to implement the Convention and promote its norms, including discouraging States not Party to the Convention from using cluster munitions, as stated under Article 21 of the Convention. The CMC calls on all states that have joined the Convention on Cluster Munitions to urge States not Party to the Convention to explicitly rule out any use of cluster munitions in military operations in Libya. At the First Meeting of States Parties to the Convention on Cluster Munitions that took place in Vientiane, Lao PDR, States Parties reiterated their obligations under the Convention by adopting the 2010 Vientiane Action Plan, which urges all States Parties to "discourage in every way" any use of cluster munitions. The CMC also calls on Libya not to use any of its stockpile of cluster munitions, and to join the Convention on Cluster Munitions.