Campaigners urge leaders to ratify cluster bomb ban

Campaigners from across Europe have arrived in the Norwegian capital, Oslo, to urge world leaders to ratify a worldwide ban on the use of cluster bombs.

Ratification of the treaty, adopted in May by 107 countries, would mean clearing and destroying stockpiles of the weapons can get underway.

Around 100 governments are expected in Oslo over the next two days to formally sign the Convention on Cluster Munitions — although the big military powers and arms producers including the US, China and Russia — will be absent.

Cluster bombs contain hundreds of submunitions, which blanket wide areas, making them indiscriminate killers, activists say.

Not all of them explode on impact, leaving duds on the ground which can still pose a lethal threat to civilians decades later.

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tags: Norway