Ireland is seeking an “ambitious outcome” from the international conference on cluster bombs which has started in Dublin, Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin said today.
Mr Martin opened the conference this morning saying he would also be seeking the “widest possible support” from the agreement that will emerge at the end of the two-week-long meeting.
Representatives of more than 100 states are attending the conference to finalise an anti-cluster munitions treaty that will see the deadly weapons outlawed.
Cluster bombs are small munitions that open in mid-air and scatter as many as several hundred "bomblets" over wide areas. They often fail to explode, creating virtual minefields that can kill or injure anyone who comes across them. They can also be indiscriminate at the time of use and harm civilians who are within range of the intended target.
The UN Development Programme says cluster munitions have caused more than 13,000 confirmed injuries and deaths around the world, the great majority of them in Laos, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq and Lebanon.
Opening the conference in Croke Park this morning, Mr Martin said Ireland’s experience as peacekeepers around the world was valuable in the discussion.
“We have learned lessons from these experiences – as have so many others here - and in our view these lessons can and should be applied so that the dreadful effects of cluster munition use on civilians can be avoided in the future,” he told delegates.
Mr Martin said time for agreement was limited.
“We have less than a fortnight in which to reach agreement. This may seem tight, and indeed it is. However, considerable groundwork has been done at previous conferences in the process. The key issues are known to all. Possible solutions have been aired. What is now needed is the will to bridge gaps and foster agreement," he said.
The Bishops' Commission for Justice and Social Affairs and Trócaire have called on the Government to continue to display its commitment to achieving a comprehensive and immediate ban on the production, stockpiling, transfer and use of all cluster munitions.
In a joint statement, the two bodies said the Government should provide "moral leadership" in favour of a strong treaty which will ensure that all weapons that have the effects of cluster munitions are classified as such and banned.
However, Fine Gael foreign affairs spokesman Billy Timmins said that it was “regrettable” that theGovernment did not support Fine Gael legislation last month that would have banned the investment of public funds in any firm that engages in any type of trade cluster munitions.
Mr Timmins said he brought the legislation forward in a Private Members’ Bill and added that, if the Minister for Foreign Affairs had accepted it, his negotiating hand would have been strengthened at the Croke Park conference.
