03 August 2015
Uganda: Ratify the Convention!
Campaigners in Kampala, Uganda. ©CMC, 2008.
On 3 August 2015, members and supporters of the Cluster Munition Coalition (CMC) from around the world urge H.E. Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, the President of Republic of Uganda and Hon. Rebecca Alitwala Kadaga, the Speaker of Parliament of Uganda, to take immediate steps to ratify the Convention on Cluster Munitions.
On 4 August 2015, Ugandan campaigners will meet with the President of Uganda and the Speaker of Parliament to convey the message of Nobel Peace Laureates, civil society activists and Ugandan people regarding ratification of the global ban.
Nobel Peace Laureates Ms. Jody Williams and Dr. Shirin Ebadi as well as Member of Ugandan Parliament Hon. Betty Amongi joined CMC campaigners from Afghanistan, Albania, Australia, Austria, Bangladesh, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Burundi, Cambodia, Canada, Colombia, Croatia, Demark, DR Congo, El Salvador, Gambia, Georgia, Iran, Iraq, Japan, Liberia, Mozambique, Nepal, Nigeria, Peru, Rwanda, Senegal, Serbia, Somalia, South Sudan, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Sweden, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, United Kingdom, United States, Yemen and Zambia, asking Uganda to ratify the Convention by the First Review Conference.
Building on over six years of tireless campaigning by the Ugandan Landmine Survivor Association (ULSA) the Ugandan campaigners including survivors from ten districts signed a letter to reinforce the call on Uganda to ratify the Convention.
Uganda participated actively in the Oslo Process that produced the Convention. It hosted a regional meeting in Kampala to build support for the Convention in September 2008, and signed the Convention in December 2008. National legislation for domestication of the Convention has been drafted but has yet to be adopted. Uganda is not affected by cluster munitions; it has however experienced the horrible consequences of landmines and other explosive remnants of war contamination.
Campaigners together with Major General Oketta Julius in Kampala, Uganda. ©ULSA.
