In advance of the Review Conference on the Convention of Conventional Weapons (CCW) ministers from DFID, FCO and the Ministry of Defence agreed that the UK should play a leading role in pushing for an international commitment to end the use of “dumb” cluster munitions (ie. broadly characterised as having numerous sub-munitions but without a target discrimination capability and self-destruct or self-deactivation mechanism), phasing out the use of the UK’s own dumb munitions, and pressing the military forces of all countries to adhere to their responsibilities under international humanitarian law.
We also agreed that before we can achieve an international agreement on banning dumb cluster munitions, there are a number of uncertainties, including specific definitions, that experts will need to resolve. At the CCW Review Conference we secured agreement for a group of governmental experts to look at these issues, including existing International Humanitarian Law and the reliability of cluster munitions, reporting back to the next meeting of States Parties in November 2007. The process will include the main users and producers of cluster munitions and is an essential preliminary step towards any negotiations on a new and legally binding protocol which could restrict the manufacture, stockpiling, use and transfer of those cluster munitions which are of greatest humanitarian concern.