02 September 2014
Belize Accession Completes Cluster Bomb-free Central America
“Our accession instrument was submitted at the United Nations in New York today. This is Belize’s contribution to making Central America the first cluster munition-free sub-region”, said today Her Excellency Celie Paz Marín, Ambassador of Belize to El Salvador, at as the first day of the Fifth Meeting of States Parties to the Convention on Cluster Munitions concluded in San José.
Her Excellency Celie Paz Marín, Ambassador of Belize to El Salvador, at as the first day of the Fifth Meeting of States Parties to the Convention on Cluster Munitions concluded in San José. (c)CMC
Read the 5MSP Statement from Belize, announcing its accession. The convention will enter into force on 1 March 2015 for Belize. As the country is not contaminated with cluster munition remnants and does not have stockpiles of the weapon, its core obligations will be limited to the adoption of national implementation measures to penalize any prohibited activities, and to the submission of an annual transparency report. Like all other States Parties, it will also be responsible for further promoting the convention and its norms.
“This shows that even a region that has not suffered from the use of cluster munitions can take a strong stance against these horrible weapons and work actively towards their elimination,” said Hector Guerra, representative of the Cluster Munition Coalition in Mexico. “Costa Rica’s Presidency over the Convention is off to a good start, and the goal of a cluster munition-free Latin America and Caribbean region is within reach,” he added.
Belize attended the Santiago Regional Workshop on Cluster Munitions in December 2013 where it agreed to the 'Santiago Declaration Toward the Early Establishment of a Cluster Munitions Free Zone in Latin America and the Caribbean'
Belize's accession to the treaty banning them means they join the rest of Central America -- Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama in uniting against cluster bombs.
