CYIL 2012

DISARMAMENT AND HUMANITARIAN LAW IN CONVENTIONAL WEAPONS Convention on Cluster Munitions 25 was adopted at the Diplomatic Conference in Dublin on 30 th May 2008. The Convention was opened for signing in Oslo on 3 rd December 2008. 108 States signed the Convention between 3 December 2008 and 31 July 2010. The Convention entered into force on 1 August 2010. Article 2 of the Convention defines cluster munition as a conventional munition that is designed to disperse or release explosive submunitions each weighing less than 20 kilograms, and includes those explosive submunitions. Cluster munitions refer to arms systems that are dropped by air or delivered from ground. 26 Mostly cluster bombs are mentioned in this respect, which release hundreds of bomblets which are dispersed over a large land area. They are, for example, used to destroy electrical facilities. They are often dropped from planes and are characterized by the fact that they disperse little “bomblets” in a wide space. Parts of these may not explode during the impact and create a mine field. Similar to land mines they cause death and injuries to civilians because they explode only when touched by civilians. It is stated that after the war in Iraq in 2003 and after the bombardment of Yugoslavia in 1999 more civilians were injured or killed by cluster munitions than by any other arms system. It is stated that during the first three weeks of the war in Iraq the American and British forces dropped roughly 13 thousand of these bombs, so more than 1.7 million bomblets 27 dispersed over the territory of Iraq. There are also reports about more recent use of cluster munitions. The representatives of Georgia admitted that the Georgian army used cluster bombs during the conflict in Southern Ossetia at the beginning of 2008. 28 The non-governmental organization Human Rights Watch received a letter from the Ministry of Interior of Georgia in which it is admitted that they used cluster bombs M 85 in the tunnel connecting Russia and Southern Ossetia. This non-governmental organization at the same time accused Russia of also using cluster munitions in the conflict. Russia, however, denies these allegations. 29 In the resolution of the European Parliament on the global treaty to ban all cluster munitions 30 of 25 th October 2007, it is stated that cluster munitions are highly inaccurate , are often used in large numbers over both rural and urban areas, and cover a wide area after dispersal, producing large amounts of unexploded ordnance which should have exploded but failed to do so (Point D). In the preamble of the Convention on cluster munitions it is stressed that cluster munition remnants kill or maim civilians, including women and children, obstruct economic and social development, including through the loss of livelihood, 25 Conf. Convention on Cluster Munitions, CCM 77, Dublin, 30 May 2008. 26 Conf. Boothby, W. H. Weapons and the Law of Armed Conflict. Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2009, p. 251. 27 Conf. Pentagon vyvíjí kazetové bomby s menším rizikem pro civilisty. http://web.volny.cz/clanek/- volny/IDC/90958/, ČTK 8. 7. 2008, ztaženo dne 17. 7. 2008. 28 Conf. Gruzie přiznala použití kazetových bomb v Osetii. Právo z 2. září 2008. 29 Ibid. 30 Conf. European Parliament resolution of 25 October 2007: Towards a global treaty to ban all cluster munitions.. P6_TA-PROV(2007)0484.

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