For several years, Burma’s ruling State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) and Kim Jong Il’s government in North Korea have been slowly strengthening their diplomatic and military ties, largely beneath the international radar.

Israeli attacks with guided missiles fired from aerial drones killed civilians during the recent Gaza fighting in violation of the laws of war.

At least 32 signatories to the Convention on Cluster Munitions and at least 48 non-signatories possess stockpiles of cluster munitions. This presentation provides an overview of which states stockpile the weapon, focusing on the number and type of cluster munitions stockpiled by signatory states.

The Convention on Cluster Munitions clearly permits joint military operations, but countries that have joined the treaty should prohibit all assistance with using cluster munitions. They should remember the purpose behind the treaty they negotiated and make no exceptions.

To meet the object and purpose of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, states implementing and interpreting the convention should prohibit assisting anyone with the use, production, transfer, and stockpiling of cluster munitions in any situation, including in joint military operations.

Countries that have signed the new treaty banning cluster munitions should not in any way facilitate the use of this weapon, even in joint military operations with allies that have not joined the treaty.

The prohibition on cluster munitions is firmly taking hold as more countries join the new treaty banning the weapon and hold-out states shift their policies in the right direction, says a report jointly released today by Human Rights Watch, Landmine Action, and Landmine Monitor.