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HRW warns about US cluster bombs in Iraq
Human Rights Watch has warned about cluster munitions that the US military left in Iraq during the invasion of the country in 2003 and the 1991 Persian Gulf War. The rights group warned that there were over 61-thousand cluster bombs which can kill people for years to come in the country, calling on Middle East and North African countries to sign The International Treaty Banning Cluster Munitions. "Iraq has experienced first-hand the devastating effects of cluster munitions, and its government has promised never to use this weapon," said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East Director of Human Rights Watch. "Civilians, often children, are the victims of cluster munitions, which to this day continue to kill and maim innocent people throughout the Middle East from conflicts long since ended," Whitson added. "Whatever excuses Middle East governments have given for not signing this treaty, Iraq's example shows they won't hold up," she added. She called on Iraq, Lebanon, and Tunisia to "persuade neighboring governments to help create a Middle East free from these vicious weapons." According to the rights group, the US, France and the United Kingdom dropped over 61,000 cluster bombs containing 20 million submunitions in Iraq and Kuwait in 1991. Almost 13,000 cluster munitions containing an estimated 1.8 to 2 million submunitions dropped on Iraq's soil during the US-led invasion of the country in 2003, the report said. A total of 103 countries have signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions, which opened for signature in December 2008. Twenty four including Britain and France have ratified it but 30 more ratifications are needed for the convention to become a binding international law. Posted by: Fred 2009-12-11 |
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