US rejects international call to ban cluster munitions

Legal World

[##_1L|1306360825.jpg|width="140" height="84" alt=""|_##]The United States Friday rejected an international call to ban the use of cluster munitions by 2008. State Department spokesperson Sean McCormack told reporters at a daily press briefing that the United States "takes the position that munitions do have a place and a use in military inventories, given the right technology as well as the proper rules of engagement." McCormack emphasized that the United States has spent "about a billion dollars" in the past decade to clean up "unexploded munitions all around the world." Meanwhile Friday, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon encouraged "all progress to reduce and ultimately eliminate the horrendous humanitarian effects of these weapons." Ban also called on the parties to the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW) to reexamine the "reliability... technical and design characteristics of cluster munitions with a view to minimizing their humanitarian impact."

Earlier Friday, 46 of 49 countries participating in the two-day Oslo Conference on Cluster Munitions agreed to an action plan to develop a new international treaty to ban the use of cluster munitions by 2008. Romania, Poland and Japan refused to sign the Oslo Declaration. The United States, Russia, Israel, and China chose not to attend the conference. Cluster munitions are considered by many to be inaccurate weapons designed to spread damage indiscriminately and could therefore be considered illegal [CMC backgrounder] under multiple provisions of Protocol I of the Geneva Conventions (1977).

Related listings

  • S Korea to retake military command

    S Korea to retake military command

    Legal World 02/24/2007

    [##_1L|1087675256.jpg|width="130" height="89" alt=""|_##]The United States will hand back wartime operational control of South Korea's armed forces in 2012. The deal reached between Robert Gates, the US defence secretary, and Kim Jang Soo, his Korean...

  • Survivors await UN court's Bosnian war ruling

    Survivors await UN court's Bosnian war ruling

    Legal World 02/24/2007

    Survivors and relatives of victims of the Srebrinica massacre are on their way to The Hague for a ruling on a demand to hold Serbia accountable for mass killings during the Bosnian War. The case, brought by Bosnia, has been described as one of the mo...

  • Egypt cleric alleges torture after 2003 CIA rendition

    Egypt cleric alleges torture after 2003 CIA rendition

    Legal World 02/23/2007

    Speaking publicly for the first time, Muslim cleric Osama Moustafa Hassan Nasr said Thursday that he was tortured by Egyptian officials during his four-year detention in Egypt following an alleged 2003 kidnapping and extraordinary rendition from Mila...

New Rochelle, New York Personal Injury Lawyers

If you or a loved one has been injured in an accident, contact Kommer, Bave & Ollman, LLP, in New Rochelle, New York, immediately. We can answer all your questions and work with you to determine if you have the grounds for a personal injury lawsuit. The attorneys at our firm are determined to resolve even the most difficult of cases. We will work closely with you to determine the best course of action to get your claim or case resolved in the most efficient way possible. We will fight for your right to compensation! No one should have to suffer a financial burden from the result of another person’s carelessness. The attorneys at Kommer, Bave & Ollman, LLP will aggressively fight to ensure that justice is served on your behalf.

Business News

New York & New Jersey Family Law Matters We represent our clients in all types of proceedings that include termination of parental rights. >> read