The position of France on submunition bombs has always been highly ambiguous: although the country recognizes the disastrous humanitarian consequences of these weapons, it refuses to prohibit them entirely, using national security as a pretext.
With each conference, France’s positioned toughened in favor of a partial prohibition of submunition bombs: first in Lima in May 2007, then in Vienna in December 2007, where France was one of a dozen or so countries out of 138 represented that tried to considerably weaken the impact of the treaty.
During the latest international conference in Wellington, France led a minority of countries, most of them weapon producers and stockpilers like France itself, who refuse a total and rapid prohibition of submunition bombs in order to preserve part of their stocks. France’s demands harden in spite of the proof presented by a number of experts and by the NGOs on the danger of such a stance.
