Posted on 05/23/2007 6:58:57 PM PDT by Cornpone
The non-governmental organisation Handicap International has criticised Switzerland's position on cluster bombs, as a key conference on the issue gets underway.
It said Switzerland had adopted an "ambiguous" standpoint by supporting a partial moratorium on cluster bombs, and called on the country to implement a full ban.
The three-day conference in Peru, which starts on Wednesday, is aimed at broadening support for an international declaration banning cluster munitions by 2008.
This was initiated by 46 nations in February in Norway. Switzerland was among those to sign up and it is expected to send a delegation to the Peruvian capital, Lima.
Countries have also been urged to take steps at a national level before the treaty takes effect. Switzerland's neighbour Austria has already announced a full moratorium on cluster munitions.
But at the beginning of May – in answer to a parliamentary question - the Swiss government said it favoured a partial moratorium, saying a full one was "excessive".
This would effectively apply to the production, stockpiling, transfer and use of such weapons which present a strong threat to humans.
Handicap International's Swiss section has slammed the move as ambiguous and a "balancing act".
"[The government] proposes a 'partial moratorium' in the expectation of a 'partial ban' and thus leaves the door open to maintaining the county's arsenal of cluster bombs which it already has," it said in a statement on Tuesday.
Handicap International said this did not fit with the government's stated desire to strengthen its role in negotiations for the treaty.
Swiss bombs
According to the NGO, Switzerland possesses around 200,000 cluster bombs for use in the event of invasion.
Cluster bomblets are packed by the hundreds into artillery shells, bombs or missiles that scatter them over vast areas, with some failing to explode immediately.
Unexploded bomblets can then lie dormant for years after conflicts end until they are disturbed, often by civilians. These weapons have recently been used Iraq, Kosovo, Afghanistan and Lebanon.
The United Nations estimated that Israel dropped as many as four million bomblets in southern Lebanon during last year's war with Hezbollah, with as many as 40 per cent failing to explode on impact.
According to Handicap International, cluster bombs of the type M85, which are the ones stockpiled in Switzerland, were used in Lebanon.
The NGO is therefore calling for Switzerland to support a full ban on cluster munitions. A parliamentary initiative calling for such a ban is due for discussion next month.
One way to stop them being used is to not invade Switzerland.
“The United Nations estimated that Israel dropped as many as four million bomblets in southern Lebanon during last year’s war with Hezbollah, with as many as 40 per cent failing to explode on impact.”
Hogwash.
Cluster bombs scare the hell out of me. I assume they do the same to potential enemies.
used in Iraq, Kosovo, Afghanistan and Lebanon ...
Gee, I wonder which countries were involved in these wars?
Why, the US and Israel.
The slobs leave out the fact that the only reason that clusters were not used by the ROP fighters is that they did not have them.
How about a 46 nation resolution that we stop sending KIDS OUT TO BLOW THEMSELVES UP, if they are so pro-chillun!
Happiness is a cluster bomb falling on an enemy formation.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.