13:36 GMT, December 4, 2008 125 states takes part in the signing ceremony in Oslo City Hall yesterday.

“This is a historic day for international humanitarian law and for cluster munitions victims. Cluster munitions have killed and maimed innocent civilians for more than 50 years. Today most of the world’s countries are choosing to ban any further use of these merciless weapons,” said Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Støre.

“It looks as though around 100 states will sign the Convention in the course of the day, and more countries are expected to sign it at UN Headquarters in New York in the coming weeks,” said the Foreign Minister.

“Civil society actors, the UN and the International Committee of the Red Cross have, through unique and close cooperation with states, established a strong Convention that strengthens international humanitarian law, without transitional arrangements or loopholes,” said Mr Støre.

This agreement prohibits a whole category of weapons. The signatories to the Convention commit to encouraging additional states to follow suit.

“The Convention requires us to assist victims, clear unexploded duds and destroy stockpiles. This will make a real difference to the people who are affected and threatened by cluster munitions,” said Mr Støre.

Norway will continue to support victims and munition clearance programmes in affected countries.

“This is a start. Now begins phase two, which will involve getting more countries to sign and step up their efforts to assist the victims,” said the Foreign Minister. (ends)


Norway, which has led efforts to ban cluster bombs, was the first to sign the Convention on Cluster Munitions, which bans the use, production, and sale of the weapons.

Next came Laos and Lebanon, both of which have experienced the lingering lethal effects of the munitions.

The United States, China, India, Israel, Pakistan and Russia are among countries refusing to sign the cluster bomb ban.

The U.S. State Department Tuesday said outlawing the bombs would put the lives of American troops and their coalition partners at risk.

Cluster bombs contain hundreds of smaller explosives that detonate over a wide area. Some of the explosives can fail to explode on impact and act as landmines, menacing civilian populations long after a conflict is over.

U.S. officials say the weapons are still useful, but that the Pentagon plans to phase out using current cluster bomb technology by 2018.

The State Department says it is concerned about the dangers unexploded bombs pose to civilians and says Washington has spent more than one billion dollars cleaning them up.

The group Human Rights Watch Tuesday appealed to President-elect Barack Obama to reverse Bush administration policy and make joining the cluster ban treaty a top priority.

Thirty countries must ratify the treaty for it to take effect.