Photo: Simon Conway
(London, 28 October 2009) Almost one year on from the historic signing of the Convention on Cluster Munitions in Oslo in December 2008, campaigners are launching a call on governments to stem the flow of money to producers of these indiscriminate weapons.
“Governments made history when they signed the cluster bomb ban last year. Now they need to make it clear that funding the production of cluster bombs is unacceptable and undermines the spirit of the ban,” said Thomas Nash, coordinator of the Cluster Munition Coalition (CMC), a global network of non-governmental organizations that spearheaded the successful campaign to ban the weapon.
The 2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions is an international treaty that bans the use, production, stockpiling and transfer of cluster munitions and requires countries to assist survivors and affected communities and clear contaminated land. So far 100 countries have signed the ban and 23 have already ratified it. Seven more must ratify to reach the threshold of 30 that will trigger entry into force six months later. At that point, likely to be in mid-2010, the legal obligations, including the ban on production and investments, will become legally binding on all parties to the treaty.
“As we’ve seen with antipersonnel landmines, once nations decide to ban a weapon under international law, it quickly becomes morally and commercially unviable, as well as illegal,” said Miriam Struyk of IKV Pax Christi in the Netherlands. “As we count down to the cluster bomb ban’s entry into force, governments must recognize this reality and put in place laws or policies that explicitly prohibit any investment in these indiscriminate weapons.”
Like the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty, the Convention on Cluster Munitions is expected to save millions of lives and create a new global norm against the weapon. The two weapons ban treaties contain the same prohibition on assistance with banned acts, which has been interpreted as prohibiting investment in makers of the banned weapon. The cluster bomb ban requires countries to enact national laws to enforce it. The CMC is calling on government to ensure these laws explicitly prohibit investment in cluster bomb production.
Since the 1997 landmine ban, the production of antipersonnel mines has been nearly extinguished. However, cluster bombs continue to be produced by companies operating in countries outside the Convention on Cluster Munitions. These companies are financed by a range of banks and financial institutions around the world.
A new report launched Thursday by CMC members IKV Pax Christi and Netwerk Vlaanderen finds that some banks and other financial institutions in countries that have signed the ban, such as UK, Germany and Japan, are continuing to invest in companies producing cluster bombs. The report, entitled “Worldwide investments in cluster munitions: a shared responsibility,” names 138 financial institutions that are investing in cluster bomb producers. Over $5 billion USD is being provided in loans to cluster bomb producers, over $4.2 billion USD is provided in investment banking services, and $11.8 billion USD is owned or managed in shares and bonds.
“Banning cluster bombs but allowing continued investment in their production is a clear double standard. You cannot ban a weapon because of the humanitarian harm it causes but allow banks to continue profiting from the production of these weapons somewhere else,” said Nash.
Belgium, Ireland and Luxembourg have prohibited investment in cluster bombs through national law, setting a strong precedent that other countries should follow. Furthermore, government-managed pension funds in New Zealand and Norway have excluded cluster bomb producers from the lists of companies in which they invest.
“It can be difficult for people in countries not affected by cluster bombs to identify with this ‘far away’ problem, but most people in such countries have bank accounts so they may be inadvertently contributing to cluster bomb production. By getting involved in this campaign people can really make a difference,” said Khaled Yamout of Norwegian People’s Aid - Lebanon, one of CMC’s member organizations.
CONTACT:
In London, Thomas Nash: +44-771-1926-730
In Ottawa, Nancy Ingram: +1 613 851 5439
October 29, 2009, 11:51am Comments
