U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon welcomed Friday's adoption of the Convention on Cluster Munitions and urged all member states to promptly ratify the treaty, Ban's office said. Ban, in a statement through his spokesperson, said he was “delighted” that “strong calls to address the humanitarian impact of cluster munitions have been answered with the adoption.” “The secretary-general has accepted depositary functions under the convention, which he urges all states to sign and ratify without delay, and he looks forward to its rapid entry into force, " Ban's office said. The secretary-general also said the United Nations is prepared to help implementing the tasks agreed to in the convention. Delegations from 111 member states meeting in Dublin, Ireland agreed to ban the use of cluster munitions, which Ban said create “a very real danger to civilians, both at the time of use and long after conflicts have ended.”
