Convention on Cluster Munitions ratified

This just in from Legacies of War, a nonprofit organization advocating the clearance of unexploded bombs: Ratification by Bukina Faso and Moldova sealed the acceptance of the United Nations Convention on Cluster Munitions. It has taken since December 3, 2008 to gain 110 signatures and now the necessary ratification by 30 nations to place the convention in force on August 1.

"The Secretary-General welcomes this major advance on the global disarmament agenda," declared Ban Ki-moon's spokesperson. "Cluster munitions are unreliable and inaccurate. During conflict and long after it has ended, they maim and kill scores of civillians, including many children. They impair post-conflict recovery by making roads and land inaccessible to farmers and aid workers."

The spokesperson added, "The United Nations is firmly committed to ending the use, stockpiling, production and transfer of cluster munitions and mitigating the suffering they cause. The secretary-general calls on all states to become a party to the convention without delay."

The convention offers provisions for victim assistance and bomb clearance to improve the lives of survivors, families, and communities that have been affected by cluster munitions.

The United States used cluster bombs in astounding numbers during the Vietnam War. Channapa Khamvongsa, who lived through war and its aftermath in Laos, feels the U.S. has been less forthcoming with funds to clear the unexploded bombs covering a large portion of her former homeland and in aiding victims of the weapons.

Her family fled upheavals in that country in 1979 when she was seven years old. She has been waiting a long time for the U.S. to deal with an estimated 78 million cluster submunitions in Laos. That said, her greatest wish is for all parties to fully heal.

Laos will host the First Meeting of State Parties on the subject in late 2010.