By Titus Peachey, Mennonite Central Committee & Legacies of War Board Member
Oslo, Norway: Ta Douangcham, ban advocate from Khammoun Province, Laos, and Titus Peachey of Mennonite Central Committee at the International Convention on Cluster Munitions Treaty signing to ban cluster bombs (Dec 2009).
Thirty-five years ago, somewhere in the country of Laos, the last cluster bomb from a nine-year U.S. air war fell to the ground. It may still be there, hidden somewhere in the soil awaiting a farmer’s hoe or the curious touch of a child. But if it was paying attention in early December, 2008, it would have been astounded to learn that 94 countries gathered in Oslo, Norway, to declare that they would no longer produce, sell, or use cluster bombs. Once the treaty goes into effect, this cluster bomb which has been inhumane and indiscriminate from the time it was first designed, will finally become illegal.
The route to banning cluster bombs has been a long journey. Since cluster bombs were first used on a mass scale in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, they have been the subject of controversy. Laos was the most heavily bombed country, suffering the infestation of more than 260 million cluster bomblets. Most experts conclude that roughly 30% failed to explode, which means millions were left in the soil at the end of the war. However, due to political isolation and the lack of available technical expertise, the problem did not receive much international attention. more ...more
