Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2010-07-07-Speech-3-509"
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"en.20100707.33.3-509"2
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"Madam President, I am extremely grateful for the opportunity to discuss the issue of cluster munitions. I believe this is an important moment to do so, less than one month before the entry into force of the Convention on Cluster Munitions.
I very much look forward to this debate.
As this House knows, this Convention, originally a Norwegian initiative, will prohibit all use, stockpiling, production and transfer of cluster munitions. Similarly to anti-personnel landmines, cluster munitions pose – as honourable Members know – a serious threat to the lives of civilians by causing indiscriminate damage, particularly affecting children.
The very nature of cluster munitions goes against basic humanitarian principles. Not only do they release small bomblets over a wide area with indiscriminate effects, they also leave behind a large amount of unexploded ordnance that can explode at any time, even decades after a conflict has ended. That is why the European Union is committed to making every effort to achieve a complete ban on these deadly devices.
The Convention on Cluster Munitions was agreed in December 2008. In only a year and a half, 106 states have signed the convention and 36 have ratified it. In a way that reminds us of the inspiring dynamic triggered by the entry into force of the Ottawa Convention on Anti-Personnel Landmines, we can expect significant progress in our common efforts to reduce – and eventually eliminate – the production, use and transfer of cluster munitions.
The European Union as a whole is fully committed to tackling the impact of cluster munitions on civilian populations through all possible means. Although not all EU Member States are party to the convention, there is a general understanding that the EU can, and must, play an active role in this area. As this House knows, the EU also continues to support the wider negotiation of an additional protocol on cluster munitions to the UN Convention on the Use of Certain Conventional Weapons. The aim here is to expand the body of international norms spanning this category of weapons and to reach out to a large number of countries. I think we can be very clear on this point. The Convention on the Use of Certain Conventional Weapons is a UN Convention and therefore, a truly multilateral instrument, negotiated in the widest forum. Its provisions, and those of its additional protocols, contribute to reducing the suffering of combatants and civilian populations in areas of conflict.
It is therefore very important that the EU supports this convention and its protocols. This is exactly what we have been doing since 2007 through a specific EU joint action that supports the universalisation of the convention and its full implementation. In the negotiations on the additional protocol on cluster munitions, the EU is pleading for a prohibition and not only a restriction of the use, production, transfer and stockpiling of certain cluster munitions that cause particular humanitarian concerns.
I recognise that the scope of this protocol could not be as wide as the Convention on Cluster Munitions, but if we could achieve a protocol in the UN context with wider participation – in particular, with the participation of those states that produce and have stocks of these weapons – it would help us to get closer to our objectives.
As for the next steps on the Convention on Cluster Munitions as such, I am pleased that preparations have begun for the first states-party meeting, which will take place in Laos in November 2010. The Santiago conference in June already demonstrated a high level of commitment from large numbers of states, as indeed was the case for representatives of civil society. Many EU Member States played a very active role as Friends of the Chair in the discussions.
With respect to concrete assistance to third countries, let me emphasise that the European Union has been very active. We assist third countries in getting rid of their stockpile of cluster munitions, we help them to clear affected areas, and we provide assistance to the victims in countries such as Afghanistan, Laos, Cambodia, Lebanon or Sudan. Over the last 10 years, the European Union has devoted more than EUR 300 million to its work in the field of anti-personnel landmines and explosive remnants of war – including, sadly, the daily threat posed by cluster munitions."@en1
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