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Petition for Cluster Munition Legislation Change
- Date:
- Tuesday 16 August 2011
- Time:
- 12:00pm
Cluster munitions are a large cause of death and disability in developing countries. Many submunitions (approximately 30%) fail to detonate on impact and continue affecting people long after a conflict has ended. 98% of victims of unexploded submunitions are civilians. Cluster munitions affect broad areas, lack accuracy and their size and shape make them attractive to children.
More than two dozen countries have been affected by the use of cluster munitions including Afghanistan, Albania, Angola, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cambodia, Chad, Croatia, DR Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Georgia, Grenada, Iraq, Israel, Kuwait, Laos, Lebanon, Montenegro, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Syria, Tajikistan, Uganda, and Vietnam, as well as Chechnya, Falkland/Malvinas, Nagorno-Karabakh, and Western Sahara.
A proposed Bill (the Criminal Code Amendment (Cluster Munitions Prohibition) Bill 2010) to meet Australia’s obligations under the Convention on Cluster Munitions is about to be debated in the Senate.
However, this Bill falls significantly short of meeting the purpose of the Convention on Cluster Munitions – ‘to put an end for all time to the suffering and casualties caused by cluster munitions at the time of their use, when they fail to function as intended or when they are abandoned’.
The main concerns with the Bill are:
It allows Australian forces to assist other countries who haven’t signed on to the Convention (like the US) to use of cluster munitions
- It allows other countries to stockpile and transit cluster munitions on Australian territory
- It allows Australia to retain cluster munitions without specifying any reporting obligations or setting a minimum number
- It does not cover a number of obligations listed in the Convention such as providing victim assistance, assisting in clearing submunitions in affected countries or encouraging other countries to sign on to the Convention
- It does not prohibit indirect investment in cluster munition manufacture (direct investment in cluster munition manufacture does not exist, only indirect investment)
Click here to see the Open letter to the Defence Minister, Foreign Affairs Minister and Attorney General.
Please click here to sign the Cluster Munition Coalition Australia Petition.
Visit http://www.stopclustermunitions.org/ for more information.