Government move on cluster bombs welcomed

Brighton Labour MPs David Lepper and Des Turner have welcomed the decision by the Government to destroy Britain's remaining stocks of cluster bombs, and to require the US to remove any cluster bombs from UK soil.

Cluster munitions or cluster bombs are air-dropped or ground-launched munitions that eject a number of smaller submunitions: a cluster of bomblets. Because cluster bombs release many small unexploded bomblets over a wide area, they can kill or maim civilians long after a conflict has ended. Unexploded submunitions are very costly to locate and remove.

Although the UK does not produce or export any cluster munitions we have two types of cluster munitions currently and these will be taken out of service, including the M85 artillery weapon and the M73, part of a weapons system for Apache helicopters.

Brighton Pavilion Labour and Co-operative MP David Lepper, who has been campaigning in Parliament against the use of cluster bombs for many years, has welcomed the UK government’s agreement in Dublin to a new international convention prohibiting the use, production, stockpiling and transfer of all cluster munitions that cause unacceptable harm to civilians.

David points out that the Department for International Development has provided £1.5 million to clear up unexploded cluster munitions in Lebanon, where the UN estimates that the recent conflict left as many as 1.6 million unexploded munitions. And we are encouraging many others to make their contribution, through the EU and other arrangements.  He says:

“The vital thing is the ban on their use in the first place.  Now  the UK must work to encourage the widest possible international support for the new convention. Setting an example ourselves is vital in achieving that.

“We will also eliminate stockpiles of cluster munitions. While the agreement does not prevent the US from having bases on UK soil, or from stockpiling cluster munitions, there is a legal obligation on signatory parties to destroy cluster munitions under their jurisdiction or control which - combined with the political commitment to uphold the norms of the treaty - has the effect that the US will need to remove stockpiles on UK soil within eight years of the convention entering into force for the UK. The government has said it will discuss with the US about how we can fulfil this requirement.”

Des said: "The recent international agreement in Dublin creating a new international convention prohibiting the use, production, stockpiling and transfer of all cluster munitions is a major step forward in eradicating these terrible weapons which cause so much harm to civilians," said Des.

In Parliament David Lepper has also supported the following EDM welcoming this agreement:

‘That this House welcomes the historic agreement reached in Dublin on 28 May 2008 creating a new international convention prohibiting the use, production, stockpiling and transfer of all cluster munitions that cause unacceptable harm to civilians; recognises that cluster munitions have killed and maimed many non-combatants in and after conflicts around the world; congratulates all the countries that have been involved in the Oslo process to secure this agreement and the non-governmental organisations that have campaigned so effectively to achieve this major step forward; and applauds the United Kingdom government for the part it has played and for declaring that it will take out of service the cluster munitions it currently retains, including the M85 and M73 weapons, and that it will require United States’ stockpiles of cluster munitions to be removed from United Kingdom soil.’