Success in Dublin!
110 nations agreed to a groundbreaking and comprehensive new treaty to ban cluster bombs. Today’s provisional text will be formally adopted on Friday. It will be open for signatures in Oslo in December.
When the formal adoption will take place over 100 participating states including many NATO allies, UK, Germany, France, Netherlands, Denmark, Italy, Spain, Belgium are committed to no longer using these weapons. Once countries sign the treaty in Oslo, the Vienna Convention prohibits them from using these weapons from here on.
The United States was not represented in Dublin. However, legislation is in Congress that states, "Cluster munitions will not be used where civilians are known to be present or in areas normally inhabited by civilians." Passing the Cluster Munitions Protection Act (S. 594) would be a significant step for the United States.