Tuesday, 20 March 2007
UK DECLARES IMMEDIATE BAN ON THE USE OF 'DUMB' CLUSTER MUNITIONS

Defence Secretary Des Browne announced today that the UK will immediately cease all use of ‘dumb’ cluster munitions. This announcement follows a decision last month by the government to back the outcome of a conference in Oslo, which called for talks to set up, by 2008, an international treaty banning the use of ‘cluster munitions which cause unacceptable harm’.

UNA-UK welcomes today’s announcement but notes that the ban does not cover so-called ‘smart’ cluster munitions – i.e. those having a target discrimination or self-deactivation mechanism. Despite these features, smart munitions still carry the risk of technical failure and pose a serious threat to civilians.

On 16 January Lord Hannay, UNA-UK’s Chair, wrote to the British Foreign Secretary to urge the government to declare an immediate moratorium on the use of cluster munitions. He stated: “We acknowledge that it is necessary to find the right balance between military effectiveness and humanitarian considerations but believe that there are categories of weapons the use of which is unacceptable.” Click here to read the letter in full, as well as the Foreign Secretary’s reply.

Click here to view Des Browne’s announcement on the Ministry of Defence website.