The text of the Treaty was adopted on Friday, May 30, 2008

Around a hundred countries meeting in Dublin from May 19 to 30 have adopted the text of an international treaty prohibiting cluster bombs. Handicap International is pleased with this text, which will ban all cluster bombs having unacceptable humanitarian consequences and will considerably reinforce assistance for victims. Certain treaty clauses are nonetheless a source of deception and call for vigilance. The mobilization of civil society should be continued so that the treaty will be ratified as soon as possible in order that its shortcomings will not undermine the spirit of the treaty.

The treaty prohibiting cluster bombs will be open to signature next December. From that moment, prohibition of cluster bombs will be immediate. All types of cluster bombs that have been used until the present will be banned. With this treaty, in other words, from Laos to Lebanon, the humanitarian tragedies caused by the utilization of this weapon would not have occurred. The text is particularly strong concerning assistance for victims and depollution of the affected territories. This text thus constitutes a major advancement, obtained thanks to the mobilization of public opinion and of the organizations of the Cluster Munition Coalition, of which Handicap International is a founding member.

Nonetheless, certain of the treaty points give rise to serious deception, starting with the interoperability principle: the signing countries can participate in joint military actions with countries using cluster bombs, confirming the influence of the United States on the process. In addition, the definition of cluster bombs to be prohibited excludes certain arms from coverage by the treaty, notably certain weapons conserved in French stocks. Finally, the member states will have the right to keep or to acquire an unlimited supply of prohibited cluster bombs for purposes of training in mine clearance and to test their own defense capabilities.

As of now, Handicap International calls on the countries to ratify this treaty as quickly as possible and to translate it into exacting national legislation.