Federal Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier was among the government leaders from more than 100 countries who signed the international convention banning the use of cluster munitions Wednesday in Oslo.

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Foreign Minister Steinmeier signs the international Convention on Cluster Munitions in Oslo.

(© courtesy of www.osloccm.no)

The agreement is a milestone on the way to conventional arms control, Foreign Minister Steinmeier and his British colleague, David Miliband, write in an op-ed published in Frankfurter Rundschau and The Guardian on December 2. “We will be banning an entire category of weapons: weapons which can leave a deadly post-conflict legacy for civilians, claiming many innocent lives. But the convention will not only put in place an effective framework to prevent future casualties. It will also ensure international cooperation and assistance towards clearing contaminated areas, and support for victims of cluster munitions. It is an important step towards making the world a safer place.”

Javier Solana, EU High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP), welcomed the international Convention on Cluster Munitions. “The EU is playing and will continue to play a leading role in promoting the adoption of a protocol on this type of munition within the UN framework of the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW) to involve all major possessors and users of this type of munition.”

The Oslo Process was initiated by Norway in February 2007. The German Government has for years been a staunch supporter of a complete ban on cluster munitions and began destroying its own stockpile back in 2001. When the convention was agreed on in Dublin in May 2008, Germany announced that it would immediately unilaterally renounce the use of all types of cluster munitions and will destroy its remaining stocks as fast as it can.

Because they spread over wide areas and have a high dud rate, cluster munitions are particularly dangerous for the civilian population – not only during military operations, but also long after hostilities have ceased.

The new agreement not only outlaws their use, but also their development, production and stockpiling, as well as their import and export. It stipulates that existing stocks of cluster munitions are to be destroyed, and support for the victims of past deployments and affected countries is to be increased.

Sources: Foreign Office, Council of the EU