MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Cluster Munitions convention in Chile; pressure on Brazil and Argentina to sign

The deadly explosives can still be found along the Chilean-Bolivian border

“Decent countries cannot use indecent weapons” Alfredo Labbé, Director of International and Human Security under Chile’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said Monday in Santiago during an international conference to deal with the issue of cluster bombs.

Representatives from over 80 countries are in Santiago this week to participate in the largest global conference on the Convention on Cluster Munitions (CMC) since the 2008 treaty banning the use of the weapons opened for signatures in Oslo, Norway. Also present at the conference were 125 campaigners, including cluster bomb survivors, and members of non-governmental organizations representing over 50 countries.

Chile, along with Norway and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), are hosting the three-day conference, which takes place at a Santiago hotel.

Monday, Norway’s Secretary of State, Mina Gerhardsen, thanked Chile for organizing the conference “especially in light of the recent earthquake.
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The Convention takes full effect on Aug. 1 and hopes to influence non-signatory countries including the United States, Argentina, and Brazil through the discussions held in Santiago this week.

The CMC, formally endorsed in May 2008 by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, has the signatures of 106 countries, of which 36 have already ratified, meaning they have passed legislation to destroy their stockpiles of cluster munitions and prioritize cluster bomb victim assistance.

“The success of this conference will rely on international cooperation and assistance to ensure that cluster munitions will not cause further harm in the future,” UNDP representative Enrique Ganuza said.

Chile has signed the convention and has nearly completed the ratification process.

Cluster munitions, or cluster “bombs,” are large weapons containing dozens or hundreds of smaller bombs that are released upon impact when airdropped or ground-launched.

Many of these smaller bombs fail to detonate when launched and instead explode at later dates, often maiming civilian passersby. Cluster bombs present the most serious threat to civilians since antipersonnel mines, which were banned in 1997, in terms of loss of human life, land contamination, and debilitating injury.

One of the cluster bomb victims present at the conference, Soraj Gulam Habib, from Afghanistan, lost both of his legs when he stumbled upon an un-detonated bomb in 2002. He was 11 years old.

Habib delivered the opening address to the Convention on behalf of the CMC. From his wheelchair, he implored the countries present to realize the humanitarian impact of cluster munitions and similar weapons. “When I woke up on a hospital bed, I looked down and I had no legs. My life had become one of darkness and isolation,” he said.

Now 19, Habib said, “I am ready to talk about what happened to me, and about what should be done to help me and other survivors.”

Over the next three days, campaigners and government representatives will work together and discuss key issues surrounding implementation of the cluster munitions ban treaty, including victim assistance, clearance of contaminated territories, monitoring and compliance, and bilateral cooperation and assistance.

Bounkeut Sangsomasak, of Laos (officially Lao PDR), the most-affected country by cluster bombs, has spearheaded the campaign against the use of cluster bombs and has used his country as a model for the successful destruction of stockpiled cluster munitions weapons. Conference leaders including Ganuza and Thomas Nash, CMC coordinator, pointed to Lao PDR’s success and dedication to the eradication of cluster munitions and its condemnation of their continued use.

Chile, a former producer and stock piler of cluster munitions, has signed the treaty and the CMC is currently calling on Chile to outline specific plans for the destruction of its stockpiles.

In Latin America, 19 countries have signed the Convention. Brazil, a current producer of cluster bombs, and Argentina, who is present at the conference, have yet to sign, but face increasing regional and international pressure to join the Convention.

Labbé strongly urged non-signatory countries to join the Convention before Aug.1. “For some countries and their perceptions of security, they feel that they are sacrificing a means of defence. Chile’s concept is different. You need to find ways to ensure your level of security without resorting to weapons that are inhumane.”

Territories contaminated by cluster bombs still exist in the north of Chile, along the Bolivian border. The areas are unrestricted and pose a serious danger to civilians living near the minefields. In the 1980s, under General Pinochet, Chile manufactured cluster munitions weapons and sold them to Iraq during the Gulf War. Carlos Cardoen, the producer of the munitions, made a sizeable fortune which was later diversified into several different enterprises, including vineyard, a major tourism complex and an impressive regional museum.

Large swaths of land in northern Chile were used as military testing grounds to test cluster munitions weapons before they were sold to Iraq.

“An estimated 70% of Chilean victims from munitions weapons and other accidents receive no aid from the government,” said Elir Rojas, the co-founder of the Weapons and Mining Accidents Victims Group of Chile. “The Chilean government claims that there are no cluster bomb victims in Chile, but then the victims say, 'Who am I then? Am I a ghost?'” he said.

Thomas Nash, CMC coordinator, expressed optimism that cluster bombs were well on their way to becoming a stigmatized weapons system. His hope is that cluster bombs become an internationally unacceptable means of warfare. “There are some countries, like the United States, that just don’t like signing treaties. Well, we’ll just get everybody else to sign. If the entire world signs, it will become unacceptable for other countries to use or stockpile cluster munitions,” he said.

“This is not a global crisis without an end in sight. This can be solved and we need to set the tone. The work starts here,” Nash added.

By Christine Mehta – Santiago Times