Why Hasn't the United States Signed the Cluster Bomb Ban Treaty?

Last week, the nations which have signed the Cluster Munition Convention held their first meeting of state parties to discuss ways to ensure proper implementation of the treaty. Fittingly, the meeting was held in Laos, which is likely the country which has suffered more than any other from the use of cluster bombs.

The Cluster Munition Convention was first signed in Dublin in late 2008, and came into force on August 1, 2010. It was a landmark demilitarization treaty which marked the culmination of years of effort by activists and diplomats across the planet. The treay bans signators from using, producing, or stockpiling cluster bombs. To date, it has been signed by over a hundred countries.

Cluster bombs have been a scourge on humanity ever since they were first developed. Because they scatter small bomblets over wide areas, it is difficult and in many cases impossible to avoid civilian casualties when using them, especially when they are deployed during fighting in urban areas. Furthermore, a surprisingly high proportion of the small bomblets fail to explode on impact, leaving a lethal danger to civilians that can persist for months and even years after the fighting has ended.

Used in conflicts such as Vietnam during the 1970s, Afghanistan in the 1980s, Kosovo in 1999, Iraq in 2003, and Lebanon in 2006, among many African conflicts, cluster bombs have killed thousands of innocent civilians over the years, and continued to do so today. Indeed, cluster bombs kill significantly more noncambatants than soldiers, and four out of ten people killed by cluster bombs are children. They are barbaric weapons by any moral standard.

This issues involved in the cluster bomb debate are very similar to those of the debate over whether to ban anti-personnel landmines, which this blog has touched on in the past. As with the landmine ban treaty, the United States is conspicuous on the list of countries which have thus far refused to sign the Convention. This fact should outrage every American. It's time for Global Citizens in the United States to stand up and demand that their country join with the rest of the world and sign the treaty.