Human rights groups launched today a "week of action" to try to convince governments to sign and ratify the international treaty which bans the use, production and stockpiling of cluster munitions, according to dpa. The campaign was being launched one year after countries concluded negotiations on the treaty in Ireland. In December, the treaty was opened for signatures. Since then, 96 governments signed and seven have ratified the treaty. Work has also commenced in several countries on eliminating their stockpiles of the weapon. Spain became the first country to destroy its entire stockpile in March. Other countries were on their way, the Banning Cluster Munitions report released Friday said. These included Canada, Colombia and Britain. Steve Goose, of Human Rights Watch's arms control division, said he was "optimistic" the United States would eventually join the convention. He noted that President Barack Obama, when he was in the Senate, supported some bans on cluster bombs, and also signed into law, after entering the White House, a permanent ban on exporting the weapon. Cluster bombs eject sub-munitions over a wide area, making them a deadly and generally imprecise weapon. Many fail to explode and effectively turn into landmines scattered across civilian populated areas. Clearing them can also be an expensive task. In Afghanistan, for example, Human Rights Watch said 232 strikes by the US army spread 1,228 cluster bombs, with 248,056 bomblets, throughout the country in 2001 and 2002. Parts of the country were also covered by the weapon during the Soviet invasion. Afghanistan, like Laos and several other countries, remains heavily affected by cluster munitions. "Cluster bombs have killed and injured far too many civilians at the time of attack," said Steve Goose, of Human Rights Watch's arms control division. "Even worse, they go on killing days, weeks, months and even decades later," he added, explaining that after they fail to explode they can remain for years in the ground or in lakes where people fish. The coalition said some of the world's biggest users and stockpilers have not yet signed up to the convention. These include the US, Russia, China, and North Korea.
