Media Home
UN Web TV
UN PhotoUnifeed
UN / CLUSTER MUNITION CONVENTION ADVANCER
Download
There is no media available to download.
STORY: UN / CLUSTER MUNITION CONVENTION ADVANCER
TRT: 1.00
SOURCE: UNTV / UNMIS / UNHCR / UNICEF
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: NATS
DATELINE: FILE
FILE – UNTV – FEBRUARY 2008, RAJAF REGION, SOUTH SUDAN
1. Wide shot, de-mining dog at work with handler
FILE – UNMIS – 25 NOVEMBER 2008, MALAKAL, SOUTH SUDAN
2. Med shot, “danger mines” sign
FILE – UNTV – FEBRUARY 2008, RAJAF REGION, SOUTH SUDAN
3. Zoom in, landmine
4. Close up, landmine
FILE – UNHCR – 26 AUGUST 2008 - AITA AL JABAL, LEBANON
5. 9. Various shots, searching for cluster bombs
6. 10. Various shots, cluster bombs
7. 11. Wide shot, de-miner climbing down from rubble
8. 12. Various shots, clearing of a cluster bomb and explosion
FILE – UNICEF – OCTOBER 2008, AFGHANISTAN
9. Various shots, landmine clearing
FILE – UNMIS – 25 NOVEMBER 2008, MALAKAL, SOUTH SUDAN
10. Med shot, UN de-miner working
11. Close up, explosive ready for demolition
12. Med shot, anti-tank and anti-personnel
13. Wide shot, blast
United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today (30 July) expressed his delight at Sunday’s entry into force of the international convention banning the manufacture, use and stockpiling of cluster munitions, calling it a “major advance for the global disarmament and humanitarian agendas.”
Thirty ratifications were needed to make the pact, which prohibits explosive remnants of war known either as cluster munitions or unexploded ordnance (UXO), part of international law.
That milestone was reached in February when Burkina Faso and Moldova both submitted their instruments of ratification of the Convention on Cluster Munitions at UN Headquarters in New York. Some 98 per cent of victims are civilians and cluster bombs have claimed over 10,000 civilian lives, 40 per cent of whom are children.
The Convention, Ban said in a statement issued by his spokesperson, “will help us to counter the widespread insecurity and suffering caused by these terrible weapons, particularly among civilians and children.”
He is particularly pleased, the statement continued, that the pact will enter into force on 1 August, just over two years after it was adopted by 107 States in Dublin, Ireland.
The Convention, negotiated by States that represent past and current producers, stockpilers and victims of cluster munitions, establishes important commitments regarding assistance to victims, clearance of contaminated areas and destruction of stockpiles.
To date, 37 countries have ratified the pact, which also has 107 signatures.
First used in the Second World War, cluster munitions contain dozens of smaller explosives designed to disperse over an area the size of several football fields, but often fail to detonate upon impact, creating large de facto minefields. They are also notoriously inaccurate.
The failure rate makes these weapons particularly dangerous for civilians, who continue to be maimed or killed for years after conflicts end. Some 98 per cent of victims are civilians and cluster bombs have claimed over 10,000 civilian lives, 40 per cent of whom are children.
Recovery from conflict is also hampered because the munitions place roads and lands off-limits to farmers and aid workers.
The first meeting of States parties to the Convention will be held this November in Laos.
