Lao PDR

United Nation's Deputy Secretary-General Dr. Asha-Rose Migiro on the opening day of a landmark meeting on cluster munitions in Vientiane. Lao PDR. Photo: Laophoto/UN

On the opening day of a landmark meeting on cluster munitions, the UN applauded the international leadership of the Government of the Lao PDR as it hosts and takes on the Presidency of a convention for the first time to advance the global disarmament, humanitarian and development agenda.  

 “The Convention on Cluster Munitions is a critical step toward ridding the world of cluster weapons, which are indiscriminate and inhumane” stated United Nation’s Deputy Secretary-General Dr. Asha-Rose Migiro in her keynote address to the meeting.  “For more than half a century these weapons have robbed the lives and limbs from the people of Laos.”   

Lao PDR is a country which knows first-hand the very heavy burden of contamination with cluster munitions and countless other explosive remnants of war – with every one of its 14 provinces affected.  It was one of the first nation states to sign the Convention on Cluster Munitions, which now has 108 signatories.  Today Laos is host to the largest ever international meeting to be undertaken by the Government - attended by 118 nation states and over 550 representatives of civil society organizations from around the world.   

United Nations Resident Coordinator Ms. Sonam Yanchen Rana, speaking at the official press conference of the meeting alongside Dr. Thongloun Sisoulith, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Thomas Nash, Coordinator of the Cluster Munitions Coalition (CMC), and Ms. Christine Beerli, Vice President of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) stated “The partnership between nation states, civil society, the United Nations and survivors has been the hallmark of this treaty”.  

This was echoed in a statement by Jordan Ryan, the Director of UNDP’s Bureau for Crisis Prevention and Recovery “Like other forms of unexploded ordnance, cluster munitions threaten development by injuring and killing the innocent, robbing them of their dignity and productive abilities.  Moreover, these insidious weapons obstruct access to farmland and vital services, further inhibiting development.”    

When UNDP Administrator Helen Clark was in Lao PDR last month, she recognized the government’s strong leadership on the cluster munitions issue. “Laos has been innovative in creating its own Millennium Development Goal aimed at tackling the burden of unexploded ordnances which impede development and is so destructive of life and limb”.  

Today states parties convened to agree a formal declaration and a detailed implementation and reporting plan for the convention.  This entails the goal of universalization of the treaty, strategies for accelerated clearance, stockpile destruction, enhanced victim assistance, and transparency issues. The meeting is set to conclude on 12 November.  

ABOUT CLUSTER MUNITIONS:  

Cluster munitions are canisters that open in mid-air, scattering numerous small explosive devices (known as sub-munitions) over a wide area. Cluster munitions have a wide dispersal pattern that results in a very large area of impact. Their use in areas inhabited by civilians usually results in large numbers of civilian injuries and deaths. Most aerially-delivered sub-munitions cannot be precisely targeted, and therefore fall to the ground unguided. Environmental factors, combined with sub-munitions’ small size and other design features, increase the likelihood that they will not hit the intended target and will have indiscriminate effects.  

Cluster munitions are also prone to failure and remain hazardous to civilians for many years. New generations of sub-munitions aim to reduce or eliminate the failure, or “dud,” rate, but reducing the failure rate could have the unintended effect of raising civilian casualty rates at the time of use. Casualty data from around the world demonstrate that cluster munitions are extremely hazardous and cause horrifying injuries. Since World War II, at least 15 countries have used cluster munitions in more than 24 countries. Some 85 countries have stockpiles of cluster munitions containing billions of explosive devices. The new treaty requires that these are now destroyed in all states party to the Convention.  

FOR MORE INFORMATION:  
Lee Bailey in New York, +1.212.906.6386, lee.bailey@undp.org Inka Leisma in Vientiane, +856.21.267.751, inka.leisma@undp.org  

SEE ALSO:  
www.undp.org/cpr
www.clustermunitions.org