Norway: Movement Toward International Cluster Munitions Ban

On February 22-23 the government of Norway and some three dozen other governments—as well as Human Rights Watch and other nongovernmental organizations—will launch a process aimed at developing an international treaty prohibiting the use of cluster munitions, an indiscriminate weapon that causes harm to civilians. In 1999 Human Rights Watch was the first NGO to call for a moratorium on the use of cluster munitions and in 2003 we helped found the Cluster Munition Coalition. Human Rights Watch’s research and advocacy, and its leadership role among NGOs, is widely credited as having been vital to the progress made on this issue thus far. Most recently, we drew attention to the transfer of cluster munitions from the United States to Israel and influenced US policy on future transfers. We were also the first to document Hezbollah’s use of cluster munitions in Northern Israel. The forthcoming Norwegian initiative represents a watershed moment in the development of a new and critical international treaty prohibiting cluster munitions.