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Aghan Daniel
On August 1, the Convention on Cluster Munitions formally comes into force and all of its provisions become fully and legally binding for the countries that have signed and ratified it. Regrettably, with barely a month to this historic date, none of the East African countries have ratified the convention.
Around the world, campaigners are drumming up support through a range of actions to celebrate a momentous humanitarian achievement. These include the central theme of drumming to make some noise about the enforcement of the most significant disarmament and humanitarian treaty in more than a decade.
So far, campaigners for the convention have lined up activities in Kenya and Uganda. Tanzania will not join the rest of the world in this, at least not actively.
As a result, the three countries will not become State Parties this year, because of their failure to ratify the convention in time. This has put paid the region’s opportunity to negotiate any clause of the convention during the First Meeting of State Parties in the People’s Democratic Republic of Lao in November.
The next State Parties’ meeting is five years away. This position contradicts the countries’ official statements at the recently concluded Regional Conference on the Universalisation and Implementation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions.
During the meeting, held in Pretoria, South Africa, in March, the three East African countries were not very clear on what they wanted to do. It is only Kenya that feebly stated that it hoped to be part of the team to ratify the convention by May 30. It was said that the matter was then with the Attorney General and would be tabled in Parliament. This never came to be.
Now, the East Africans are telling us that their priorities are on elections and a referendum. Their parliaments’ conversations are now on the ‘Yes’ and ‘No’ campaigns on the proposed constitution in Kenya and the October 31 General Election in Tanzania. However, we believe that these notwithstanding, the Kenyan MPs can still rise to the occasion and demand action by the government on the cluster munitions convention.
The MPs must dedicate a slot to discuss this issue to ensure that our citizenry remain safe. East Africa has failed to show a high level of ambition and strong focus on humanitarian imperatives embraced by many other countries eager to project a strong African voice and take up a more progressive role to promote the convention.
The convention comprehensively bans the use, production, stockpiling and transfer of cluster munitions, requires clearance of contaminated land within 10 years, and destruction of stockpiled munitions within eight years, and includes groundbreaking provisions for victim assistance. Since it was opened for signature in Oslo, in December 2008, a total of 106 countries have signed the convention and 30 have ratified it – among them are former users, producers and stockpilers of cluster bombs, as well as countries affected by the weapon.
“With so many states already on board, cluster bombs have been stigmatised to the point where nobody should ever want to use them again. There’s really no excuse for countries not to join,” said Mr Youen Sam En, a Cambodian who lost his eyesight and both of his hands in a cluster bomb incident near the border with Lao PDR.
“Affected countries like Cambodia have a special incentive to join, because it will mean that communities affected by these weapons get the help they need and the land gets cleared of unexploded bombs.”
After August 1, treaty obligations become legally binding for all states that have ratified it, and campaigners will urge as many governments as possible to participate in the First Meeting of States Parties (1MSP) from November 8 to 12, in Lao PDR, the most cluster bomb-contaminated country in the world.
All states are welcome to attend this meeting, regardless of whether or not they have signed or ratified the treaty. Kenya should treat the ratification as an urgent matter, given its strategic position in the region and in order to be a State Party on November 1 and participate fully in Vientiane.
Responding to states such as Kenya, who might feel that it is a difficult or inopportune time to ratify, the ICRC has noted that this will not become any easier in the future, with the coming into force of the convention and the 1MSP providing two major points of interest this year that would not be repeated in years to come.
Aghan Daniel is a commentator on social and humanitarian issues
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