Irish Red Cross welcomes ratification of Convention on Cluster Munitions

This event is a major milestone in eliminating a weapon which has caused such suffering to people all over the world, and has been achieved only 15 months after the Convention was opened for signature in Oslo in December 2008.

"The ratification of this treaty is an outstanding achievement, and will make a real difference to the lives of people all around the world who have suffered directly as a consequence of these weapons. With further State ratifications expected in 2010 and 2011, we will now see the lives of existing victims and contaminated communities improve in the months and years to come." Said Declan O'Sullivan, Acting Secretary General of the Irish Red Cross.

The Convention on Cluster Munitions prohibits the use, development, production, stockpiling and transfer of inaccurate and unreliable cluster munitions. It provides for victim assistance, clearance of cluster munitions and activities to minimize their impact on the civilian population, and requires the elimination of existing stocks of inaccurate and unreliable cluster munitions.

The Irish Red Cross has strongly supported the implementation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions from the very outset, as has the Irish government. In May 2008, the Irish Red Cross represented the entire International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) at a conference in Dublin which finalised the details for adoption at the formal signing ceremony in Oslo later that year.

Cluster Munitions are weapons containing multiple explosive submunitions or bomblets which when dropped from aircraft or fired from the ground, are designed to break open in mid-air saturating large areas. They have become known as 'The weapons that keep on killing' because of their frequent failure to explode, causing accidental injury or death to civilians who may come into contact with them, sometimes even years later. Children are particularly at risk as they are often intrigued by their shape and colour and may pick them up absent-mindedly without realising the grave danger that they are in.

Notes to Editor

• Interviews with Irish Red Cross spokespersons can be arranged.
• The Irish Red Cross represented the entire International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) at the conference in Dublin in May 2008 which finalised the details for adoption of the final signing ceremony in Oslo.
• In December 2008 in Oslo, Norway, the Irish Red Cross attended the formal signing of the Convention on Cluster Munitions.
• On 16 February 2010 Burkina Faso and Moldova ratified the Convention and brought the total of ratifying States to 30 and triggered its entry into force on 1 August 2010.
• A total of 104 countries have signed the Convention since it opened for signature in December 2008.
• The 30 ratifying countries include states that led the "Oslo Process" effort to create the Convention (Norway, Austria, Holy See, Ireland, Mexico and New Zealand), States where cluster munitions have been used (Albania, Croatia, Lao PDR, Sierra Leone and Zambia), cluster munition stock-pilers (Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Japan, Moldova, Montenegro and Slovenia), as well as Spain, the first signatory country to complete destruction of its stockpile. Other ratifying states include: Burkina Faso, Burundi, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Malawi, Malta, Nicaragua, Niger, San Marino and Uruguay.
• To read more about the Convention on Cluster Munitions go to: http://www.icrc.org/web/eng/siteeng0.nsf/html/statement-cluster-munitions-031208?opendocument

Ends

For media enquiries please contact Pia Ward, Fundraising and Communications Officer at 087-7433 275.