Paul Hannon, Executive Director of Mines Action Canada, (MAC) spoke at the Liu Institute for Global Issues at the University of British Columbia, on March 21, 07. Hannon is in Vancouver to raise public awareness about cluster bombs – weapons that are, in his words, “not a weapon for the 21st century, rather a weapon for the cold war.”
Cluster bombs, or cluster munitions have been used, and continue to be used in conflicts around the world. In their wake, they leave a deadly legacy of slaughtered and maimed civilians. Shockingly, one quarter of all cluster bomb victims are children – children left missing upper limbs, blind, deaf and scarred for life.
Cluster bombs continue to kill long after the conflict is over. Like landmines, which were successfully banned in 1992 (The Ottawa Treaty), unexploded cluster munitions pose a terrible threat to anyone who is unlucky enough to come into contact with them. Years after a conflict, cluster bombs continue to pose a horrendous threat to civilians struggling to rebuild their lives and their homes.
Unlike landmine victims who can usually be identified by below-the-waist-injuries, cluster bombs usually inflict injury on the upper body – a result of victims bending over to pick pu the bomb, rather than stepping on it. Tragically, children are especially drawn to the submunitions because of their small size and interesting shapes.
And it is not just the innocents who are hurt – foot soldiers often suffer collateral damage, and in fact, in the first Gulf War, more American infantry were killed or maimed by cluster munitions than by the army they were fighting.
As Hannon points out, we should listen to the men and women on the front lines – the soldiers who know these weapons are outdated. After all, “good soldiers should have good weapons and good soldiers don’t want to kill civilians.”
What is a Cluster Bomb?
- A cluster bomb, or cluster munition is a hollow container that is filled with many smaller bombs
- Once deployed, the cluster bomb should open in midair, releasing the smaller bombs or submunitions to wreak havoc on the area below
- Submunition coverage can be as great as two to four football fields
- Cluster bombs can be fired or dropped from airplanes and more recently by land-based artillery
- Designed by the Germans for use during World War II, where they inflicted grave damage on civilian populations, but were effective against tank attacks in open areas
- Used liberally by the USA in Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam during the 1970’s, where unexploded submunitions continue to kill civilians even to this day
- Used extensively in the Gulf War, Chechnya, Yugoslavia/Kosovo, Albania, Bosnia, Herzegovina, Chad, Croatia, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Ethiopia, Russia, Syria
- Still in use in Afghanistan, Iraq, Israel, Lebanon
- Failure rate: 5-30%
- Unexploded submunitions are called “duds”
- Approx. 33 million “duds” remain on the ground
- Billions of submunitions stockpiled and ready for use in more than 70 countries
In Oslo, (The Oslo Conference) in February, 07, forty-nine countries, including Canada (but excluding the USA, Russia and China), signed a document supporting a new treaty to ban cluster bombs by the end of 2008. Now it is your turn to help. Visit Mines Action Canada and sign their Petition. Educate yourself on this issue, spread the word to family and friends, write to your Member of Parliament and to the Prime Minister of Canada.
Landmines were banned in 1992 (The Ottawa Treaty), largely in part to the enormous support of people like you and me. This is an issue we can do something about, and in doing so, we take a step toward protecting the innocent victims of war.
Julie Burtinshaw - Julie is the Reading and Literature and Writing and Publishing Editor for Suite101.com. She is also the author of five books and is ...
