(16/11/06) EP wil internationaal verbod op clusterbommen

• 2006-11-16

Vandaag heeft het EP een sterk signaal gegeven dat het de wrede, onmenselijke clusterbommen wil verbieden. De Groenen hebben hiervoor sterk geijverd. Hoewel het Finse Voorzitterschap er niet in slaagde een gemeenschappelijk EU-standpunt uit te werken, zijn er nu toch al meer dan 30 landen die dit nastreven. Deze wapens - die vaak jaren na een conflict nog slachtoffers eisen - moeten zo snel mogelijk worden afgeschaft.

Inhumane weapons

EP calls for international ban on cluster bombs



The European Parliament today adopted a resolution on the Third Review Conference on Certain Conventional Weapons (currently taking place in Geneva, 7-17 November). Commenting on the resolution, Greens defence spokesperson Angelika Beer stated:

"With the unanimous adoption of this resolution, the European Parliament has sent a strong message to the review conference on the urgent need to ban these cruel and inhumane weapons (1) . The Greens have argued strongly for a ban on cluster munitions, which UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and Humanitarian Chief Jan Egeland have also called for, and we welcome the decision of the EP to support this Green initiative in today's resolution.

"While it is regrettable that the Finnish Presidency was not able to organise an EU Common Position for the negotiations in Geneva, more than 30 states are willing to start work on introducing a comprehensive and effective convention to ban cluster munitions worldwide without delay. We need to build on this momentum and ensure the swift agreement and implementation of a ban to prevent further tragic consequences of these indiscriminate weapons, which continue to unfold years after the conflicts in which they were used have ended."

(1) Paragraph 13 of the EP resolution on Conference on certain Conventional Weapons calls for the EU to champion efforts to ban cluster munitions at the conference: "Calls upon the EU and the Member States to demand – in the spirit of the CCW's aim of establishing protocols on relevant weapon-systems when the need arises and pending a specific Convention on this issue – the creation of a specific Protocol VI to unambiguously ban the production, stockpiling, transfer and use of all types of cluster munitions (fragmentation bombs)."