30 April 2015
Colombia, it’s time to get on board!
Campaigners around the world are calling on Colombia to ratify the Convention!
Signing the Convention in Oslo, Dec. 2008. (c) Gunnar Mjaugedal/catchlight.no
On 28 April 2015, the Cluster Munition Coalition (CMC) together with the Campaña Colombiana Contra Minas (CCCM) launched a global action urging Colombia to ratify the Convention on Cluster Munitions.
Campaigners around the world have started taking action by writing letters, tweeting and contacting Colombian embassies to urge Mr. Juan Manuel Santos Calderón, the President of Colombia to take the last step and ratify the Convention.
The CMC sent a letter to the President of Colombia calling on the Government of Colombia to ratify the Convention on Cluster Munitions before the First Review Conference of the Convention, a landmark event that will take place in early September 2015, in Dubrovnik, Croatia.
The CCCM and the CMC hope that Colombia will heed the call of fellow Latin American states that have endorsed the goal of a region free of cluster munitions. We applaud Colombia’s efforts in getting rid of antipersonnel landmines and for being a leader of the Mine Ban Treaty. We urge Colombia to actively join the global ban on cluster munitions to further stigmatize these indiscriminate weapons and bring us a step closer to a cluster munition free world!
Colombia signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 3 December of 2008 but it has not ratified the Convention yet. In November 2009 Colombia announced completion of the destruction of its cluster munitions stockpile. It has not reported retaining any cluster munitions.
In April 2014, a government representative said that “inter-ministerial consultations” were taking place on the convention. This is believed to be the final phase of the domestic ratification process. Law 1604 approving ratification of the Convention on Cluster Munitions was enacted on 12 December 2012, concluding a lengthy process of legislative approval.
Colombia has the necessary legal tools to ratify the Convention without any further delay.
CMC campaigners around the globe look forward to welcoming Colombia as a State Party to the Convention on Cluster Munitions as soon as possible and before the Dubrovnik Conference.
