25 June 2012

Togo ratifies cluster bomb ban

Accra Regional Conference on the Universalisation of the CCM. From the right: Togo delegate and Second Secretary Mr Komlan A. Narteh-Messan, Ms Julie Tenenbaum from the International Committee of the Red Cross and CMC campaigner Mr Camille Gosselin from Handicap InternationalTogo has become the 72nd State Party to the Convention on Cluster Munitions after it ratified the treaty on Friday, 22 June 2012.Last month Togo co-organised a regional conference in neighbouring Ghana , aimed at increasing the number of African countries on board this humanitarian treaty, which bans all use, production, stockpile and transfer of deadly cluster munitions.Togo representative Mr Komlan A. Narteh-Messan stated at the Accra conference, "It is impossible to sit back against the humanitarian disaster that is the use of cluster munitions in the world. This commitment is and remains one of the priorities of our foreign policy." Togo participated in several meetings of the Oslo Process that created the Convention on Cluster Munitions, including the formal negotiations in Dublin in May 2008. On 3 December 2008 Togo became one of the first countries to sign the Convention.Togo has stated that it has never used, produced, transferred, or stockpiled cluster munitions.