SECRETARY-GENERAL, IN MESSAGE TO DUBLIN CONFERENCE, SAYS ALL CLUSTER MUNITIONS

 

NOW USED ‘CAUSE UNACCEPTABLE HARM TO CIVILIANS AND SHOULD BE PROHIBITED’

Following is the text of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s video message to the Diplomatic Conference on Cluster Munitions being held in Dublin on 19 May:

Excellencies,

Building a safer world is an overriding goal of the United Nations.  Disarmament, non-proliferation and arms control are central to this mission.

But these activities have proved to be particularly challenging in recent years.  Successes have been few and far between.

There have been exceptions, including in the area of international humanitarian law.  We have the mine ban treaty, now signed by 156 countries.  We have the recent Protocol on explosive remnants of war, which States agreed to under the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons.

But the quest for a safer world continues.

For a number of years, the United Nations has voiced its concern over the humanitarian impact of cluster munitions.  Because they are inherently inaccurate and often malfunction, they are particularly indiscriminate and unreliable.  This poses a very real danger to civilians, both at the time of use and long after conflicts have ended.

By dealing decisively with cluster munitions, we can reduce deaths, suffering and deprivation among civilians caught up in conflict.

We can help free communities from the hidden horrors of these weapons.

We can allow refugees and displaced persons to return to their homes.

We can free up their land for productive use.

And we can add a new chapter to international humanitarian law, alongside those on landmines and explosive remnants of war.

That is why I call for a legal instrument prohibiting the use, development, production, stockpiling and transfer of cluster munitions that cause unacceptable harm to civilians.

This instrument should require that current stockpiles be destroyed.  It should provide for activities to clear munitions, mitigate risks and assist victims.  And it should provide for measures to advance cooperation, transparency and compliance.

The United Nations family of agencies, in its work on the ground, has come across many types of cluster munitions.  From our experience, all cluster munitions used so far cause unacceptable harm to civilians, and should be prohibited.

Today, my thanks go to the Government of Ireland for convening this important Conference, to Norway for its leadership and to all of you for taking up the challenge.  I hope you will be bold and visionary in your deliberations, and wish you every success.

Thank you very much.

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For information media • not an official record