An urgent call to defuse unexploded cluster bombs in Iraq and prevent innocent civilians from being killed or maimed was made at the two-day conference on Explosive Remnants of War, organised by the International Catholic Peace Movement, Pax Christi, in Dublin yesterday.
Delegates condemned the "appalling" use of cluster munitions by UK and US forces in heavily populated Iraqi cities.
Mr Richard Lloyd, director of Landmine Action, said it was too early for details on the numbers of reported Iraqi civilian casualties from cluster bombs from cities such as Baghdad, Hilla and Nasiriya. "But unless something is done very fast to clear this up we are going to find more and more people getting killed and maimed by coalition weapons, even though the fighting has come to an end," he added.
Cluster bombs dropped from the air open in flight to release between 160 to 200 bomblets which detonate just above ground. However, between 7 to 16 per cent of these bomblets fail to explode and become lethal munitions scattered across wide areas.
Mr Lloyd said some US and UK troops were clearing some unexploded bombs in Iraq, but there was as yet no indication of the extent of the operation.
People in 82 countries were living with the daily threat caused by unexploded cluster bombs and other explosive remnants of war, he said. In 57 of these countries, there were reports of casualties in the last year, he added. "This is a global problem that needs the international community to address it in a comprehensive way."
Mr Andrew Purkis from the Diana Princess of Wales Memorial Fund said there must be a "huge question" under the Geneva Convention about the use of cluster bombs at all in populated areas in Iraq.
There was a "huge moral imperative" on the countries which used the cluster bombs while knowing of these post-war hazards to clear them up, he added.
Both organisations are backing a global petition on www.clearup.org calling on governments worldwide who use such munitions to commit to a legally binding protocol to clear them away afterwards.