21 November 2011

The world is watching CCW talks

CMC spokesperson Branislav Kapetanovic and Ambassador Danon in Geneva. As negotiations on a new law that would expressly allow some countries to continue to use cluster munitions enter the crucial final week, the voice of concerned governments, campaigners, and more than half a million global citizens continues to be ignored.The draft law, a proposed protocol to the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW), is being pushed as an alternative to the 2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions, which comprehensively bans all use, production, trade, and stockpiling of all cluster munitions. The United States is the main proponent of the draft law, and has support from others that have not yet joined the ban convention, such as China, India, Israel, and Russia.On Monday cluster bomb survivor and CMC spokesperson Branislav Kapetanovic handed a petition of over 587,000 signatures to chair of the negotiations Ambassador Danon, showing that the world is watching as these talks continue. The petition, launched by Avaaz and the Cluster Munition Coalition, has been signed by citizens in almost every country. It calls on governments to align any new agreement with the existing ban under the Convention on Cluster Munitions, ensuring this indiscriminate weapon continues to be comprehensively banned, and innocent lives protected.For more information visit the CMC's CCW webpage