Diplomats from 100 nations assembled in Dublin, Ireland to agree upon the prohibition of clustorbombs and agreed upon the decision to call for the complete destruction of stockpiles within the next eight years. Despite the large number of nations represented at the talks, the six greatest producers and users of cluster bombs were not present; the United States, Russia, China, Israel, India, and Pakistan.
Despite the widely understood inhumane consequences of the use of cluster bombs, the remain an integral weapon to the United States. During operations, bombs are released in groups that are supposed to detonate simultaneously over a large area—yet some of the bombs do not detonate and are left for innocent by-passers—sometimes farmers or even curious children that get near enough and cause them to detonate. While the US strongly opposed the treaty, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown was strongly supportive and displayed Britain’s willingness to sacrifice its two cluster munitions.
The treaty further defined cluster bombs and set certain specifications on new designs that provided a certain amount of bomblets allotted and the minimum weight—this is in the hopes that new weaponry will detonate properly.
The ban is considerably lenient for political reason—while such treaties often require that signatories not cooperate with non-signatories, NATO felt that this would make peacekeeping operations too complicated. It is a beautiful example of realism at its best, it is evident that nations are really acting in their own interest and sometimes this does not take into consideration civilian lives. It is also an example of the short-comings of international order; some things just can't be done without the super powers.
[treaty text available here]
2 comments:
I'm going to play devil's advocate for a little bit.
It's kind of interesting that you said "inhumane consequences of the use of cluster bombs." What type of humane weapons do you think the U.S. should use? Or is that an oxymoron?
I do not see the point of having nations assemble to discuss a treaty that could potentially save countless lives if the the six nations most needed to have the treaty passed are not required to attend. Would it be so bad if these six nations did not use cluster bombs? Are they not searching for having increased influence and authority in today's global society? This goal will not be achieved if they continue to ignore the lives of those killed.
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