2008-05-23 Hopes abound that the deadly cluster bomb will be banned, finally.

Some 120 countries are attending a 16-day Dublin conference with the aim of signing a pact by 30 May to ban cluster bombs, which have been responsible for thousands of death even decades after conflicts have ended.

Cluster bombs, which can be fired from the ground or dropped from planes, explode in mid-air and scatter hundreds of smaller bomblets over a wide area. A single bomb or shell can contain hundreds of sub-munitions and cover an area of more than 29 square kilometers. As such, they are highly inaccurate when used in populated areas.

Conference participants plan to negotiate a new global treaty prohibiting the manufacture, sale and use of cluster bombs, and to create a program to aid the victims and help with the clearance of unexploded sub-munitions. The pact also will require signatory nations to destroy their current stocks of cluster bombs within the next six years. The pact could eventually lead to the most significant disarmament treaty in a decade.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is supporting a treaty that would prohibit cluster weapons immediately. "Cluster munitions are weapons that never stops killing," ICRC President Jacob Kellenberger said in a statement.

The German's were the first to use the cluster bomb during World War II, targeting both civilian and military objects. Russia and the UK later further developed cluster bomb use.

A previous conference to ban cluster bombs held in February in New Zealand failed to produce the pact; however, 82 countries signed the so-called Wellington Declaration, acknowledging that cluster bombs should be banned and pledging to continue talks towards that end.

It is expected that some 37 states who refused to sign the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty - including the US, China, India, Israel, Pakistan, Russia and Saudi Arabia - will also decline to sign a treaty limiting the use of cluster munitions. The representatives from those nations, also the major producers and stockpilers of cluster munitions, are not participating in the conference.

If ratified, the cluster ban agreement could jeopardize inter-military cooperation in Iraq and Afghanistan. Since the treaty could prohibit its ratifying signatories from engaging in joint operations in which cluster bombs were used by military partners, the US is concerned that it might weaken the coalition in Iraq and Afghanistan, especially since its primary ally, the UK, is supporting the ban.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has ordered the Ministry of Defense (MoD) to review its weapons stocks and remove any remaining cluster bombs. Brown's spokesman, Michael Ellam, told reporters that the "MoD was asked to assess the remaining weapons in use to ensure there's no risk to civilians."

The US and its military allies are relying on air power and massive bombardment campaigns. The US has said that cluster munitions have a place in the military inventory as long as proper rules of engagement are followed.

Some other countries - such as the UK, Germany, Denmark, France and Japan - are seeking exceptions for certain cluster munitions within their arsenals, such as sophisticated weapons that have self-destruct mechanisms, target sensors and smaller numbers of sub-munitions. Germany is seeking a transition period of up to 10 years, during which time they may continue to use such cluster bombs while finding an adequate alternative.

ISA Key Points

• The supporters of the ban point out the high costs associated with cleanup operations where cluster bombs are used, as well as the hazardous nature of such operations, which are conducted by and often funded by Western governments.

• According to the ICRC, at least 24 countries are now contaminated with unexploded cluster bombs; most in the Middle East, Asia and the western Balkans.

• At least 34 countries are known to have produced over 210 different types of cluster munitions, which are used by at least 23 countries.

• There are an estimated 3 billion cluster munitions in stockpiles held by at least 75 different countries worldwide, led by the US with over one billion individual sub-munitions stockpiled.

• Cluster bomb munitions have been used in wars for more than 40 years in 30 countries, and were last used by Israel in Lebanon in 2006. Israel fired and dropped around 4 million cluster shells and bombs during the month-long war and as many as 1 million failed to explode. There have been 200 casualties reported since the end of the conflict due to unexploded cluster munitions.

• Cluster munitions were used in Afghanistan in 2001 and 2002 and in Iraq during the US invasion of 2003. In 2003 alone, the US and Britain dropped 13,000 cluster munitions in Iraq consisting of around 2 million bomblets.

• One of the main problems with cluster bombs is that when the sub-munitions are used in populated areas but fail to go off they can sit on the ground for years, effectively becoming landmines. Estimates show that the weapons fail to explode between 10 to 40 percent of the time.

• In Vietnam, civilians are still being killed as a result of cluster bombs utilized by the US and South Vietnamese military forces - some estimates say that up to 300 people are killed every year.

• According to a study conducted by the Belgium-based nongovernmental organization Handicap International, 98 percent of recorded-post conflict victims have been civilians and one-third of these casualties were children.

This story is published by ISA staff under a Creative Commons licensed and can be republished following Creative Commons instructions.