Appeal from the Cluster Munition Coalition to the Vienna Conference on Cluster Munitions

4 December 2007

On the eve of this Vienna Conference, we stand closer than ever to achieving a goal that groups and individuals all around the world have been working towards for decades. It is a goal that only two years ago seemed too daunting for many and unrealistic to most. Today, with the Oslo Process well underway, our work towards that goal remains daunting but achieving it is entirely realistic. The goal is a new treaty that will not only ban cluster munitions but that will make a real difference to the lives of individuals and communities that live with the painful physical, psychological and social scars of these weapons.

The CMC has come together in Vienna with over 140 delegates from civil society in 50 different countries to support the more than 120 governments gathering here, sharing our goal and sharing our commitment to achieving the treaty by 2008. We are determined to work with states and to demonstrate the strength of the dynamic partnership between civil society, international organisations, parliamentarians and governments. Just as civil society has been clamouring for this new treaty, we have heard clear calls to action from the UN Secretary General, from the President of the International Committee of the Red Cross and from states such as Belgium, Norway, Austria, Hungary who have introduced a ban or moratorium on this weapon.

As we have looked back this year at the ten years of progress in the Mine Ban Treaty we have seen how practical and effective this partnership can be at saving lives. This is a partnership that offers hope for positive change well beyond this treaty and it is a partnership that should be reinforced and exploited at every opportunity.

The discussions to come over the next three days will be crucial. We believe the text offered for discussion takes the right approach to the new treaty and provides a good basis for future work on all of the key issues. We believe the text reflects the hard work that has been done throughout the Oslo Process so far in Oslo, Lima, Costa Rica, Belgrade and Brussels. Thanks in particular to the work done in these latter two conferences, the vital issue of victim assistance has become one of the most well developed areas of the draft text.

We have also made important progress on the issues of clearance and stockpile destruction and we believe that we must aim high when considering these obligations. These obligations are crucial because they offer us the possibility to prevent future civilian harm from these weapons by removing the threat from the ground and cutting short a proliferation that could so easily lead to a new humanitarian crisis of frightening proportions. Discussions on international cooperation and assistance will be essential in ensuring that all states are able to meet these obligations.

We have made progress on the fundamental issues of the prohibition and the definition of cluster munitions. We look forward to working substantively with states on the definition. We have been working hard on this issue and we believe we must make progress on it together this week. Our CMC proposed definition outlines the approach we believe should be adopted in the new treaty. More broadly our CMC treaty principles document outlines what we believe are the essential benchmarks for the new accord.

Our message to governments is clear. We appeal to states to strive for the strongest possible ban treaty, for the most far reaching obligations, for the clearest and most precise provisions.

We appeal to states to take an evidence-based approach to the deliberations here in Vienna. We have consistently said that the burden of proof rests with governments to demonstrate and justify any exemptions to the treaty. Non-governmental organisations have undertaken rigorous work to document the impact of cluster munitions in humanitarian and development terms. We expect governments to display equal rigour and evidence when presenting the case for any exemptions. We believe one should start from the mindset that all cluster munitions cause unacceptable harm and that all should be banned.

We also appeal to states to embrace the full potential of this process and of its outcome. That potential is the possibility to change people’s lives through our collective actions. We appeal to states to not lose sight that the words they are negotiating in the new treaty have a real impact on the lives of so many people and to keep the humanitarian impact of this process at the foremost of your minds. This will ensure that states agree on the right words, words that together we can turn into action.

Finally we appeal to states to make the Oslo Process a policy priority. This means placing the cluster munition ban treaty on the agenda of your high level consultations with other states; it means affording it the human, technical and financial resources necessary to make it a success; it means acknowledging the Oslo Process as the only forum capable of delivering the humanitarian solution so urgently required and it means involving civil society and listening to the voices of the affected states.

It is not often that circumstances combine to allow real positive change on such a crucial issue in such a short time. We must seize the opportunity over the coming days to forge ahead in our common endeavour towards a cluster munition ban treaty in 2008. The spirit and determination we have seen and felt here today leaves us in no doubt that together we can make it happen.

Thank you.

_{Stand: 12/2007}