07 July 2015

Dubrovnik Review Conference: Two Months to Go!

CMC campaigners

In two months’ time states, civil society and other actors will come together in Dubrovnik, Croatia for the First Review Conference of the Convention on Cluster Munitions. States will adopt a five-year action plan aiming for implementation and full universalization of the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

In the lead up to the landmark Dubrovnik Review Conference, the Cluster Munition Coalition (CMC) members across continents are stepping up their efforts to encourage the remaining signatories to ratify and non-signatories to accede to the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

The CMC welcomes new members since the last meeting of States Parties (Guinea, Guyana, Palestine, Canada, Paraguay and South Africa) and the steps toward joining that have been taken in several other countries including in recent weeks by Slovakia, Madagascar, Iceland, and Mauritius. We are looking forward to seeing all of them at the Dubrovnik Review Conference in September as State Parties to the Convention.

The CMC condemns any use of cluster munition by any actor under any circumstance, including the recent use in Yemen, Syria, Ukraine, Sudan and Libya. None of these states are party to the Convention on Cluster Munitions. The CMC calls on the parties involved to immediately halt further use of cluster munitions. It commends those states that have already spoken out to condemn these instances of use. The CMC calls on all states to take action to discourage and condemn any use of cluster munitions to prevent further casualties and to protect the emerging norm against these indiscriminate weapons.

The CMC expects high level and active participation in the Dubrovnik Conference by the 116 nations that have joined the Convention on Cluster Munitions as well as strong participation by states that have yet to sign. In Dubrovnik, the CMC anticipates hearing about States Parties’ achievements and plans for overcoming implementation challenges in clearing  cluster munition remnants, providing assistance to victims, destroying stockpiles, and adopting comprehensive national legislation implementing the ban on cluster munitions.

We expect the Dubrovnik Conference to send a clear message of strong commitment to the Convention until all States have joined and it is fully implemented. Such commitment should be expressed in a strong political declaration and forward-looking action plan as well as in national statements given at the high level segment of the conference on 7 and 8 September.

The CMC urges states not party to join the Convention and to meet the challenge of 100 States Parties by the time of the Dubrovnik Review Conference proposed by the Costa Rican Minister of Foreign Affairs Mr. Manuel A. Gonzalez Sanz!

For more information about the Dubrovnik Review Conference click here.