Wednesday 28 May 2008

UK to stop using cluster munitions

Congratulations are due to the British government for its decision to cease using cluster bombs. The Guardian reports that:
"The government is preparing to scrap Britain's entire arsenal of cluster bombs in the face of a growing clamour against weapons that have killed and maimed hundreds of innocent civilians.
Officials are paving the way for the unexpected and radical step at talks in Dublin on an international treaty aimed at a worldwide ban on the bombs.
Well-placed sources made clear yesterday that despite opposition from the military, the government is prepared to get rid of the cluster munitions in Britain's armoury."

Another report comes from Ekklesia

We produced a leaflet about this problem some years ago but have not been actively working on it since then. The national and international campaigns that have been working strenuously over recent years have almost certainly contributed to this change in government policy. Find out more about them and the process (known as the Oslo Process) that has led to this point:

Now, if governments can be persuaded that landmines and cluster bombs are wrong for the indiscriminate harm they cause civilian, could they be helped to see that the same logic and compassion should be applied to nuclear weapons? Thankfully, they have not yet been used in anger, but are continually deployed around the world. The International Campaign Against Nuclear Weapons - ICAN - aims to abolish all nuclear weapons via education, empowerment and via a Nuclear Weapons Convention.