Vatican laments failure to restrict cluster bombs

Published: 2006-11-22

ROME (CNS) -- The Vatican lamented the failure of parties to a U.N. treaty to agree on restricting the use of cluster bombs. Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, the Vatican's representative to U.N. agencies in Geneva, said, "The failure to achieve such an agreement has left a real disappointment in the expectations of many people who see that it could have provided a good and adequate response to the humanitarian concerns posed by these weapons." The archbishop spoke Nov. 17 during at the end of a 10-day meeting in Geneva on the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons. Catholic News Service in Rome obtained a copy of his text. The Vatican has long supported negotiations that would lead to a ban on cluster munitions and, in the meantime, has called for a moratorium on their use. Typically, cluster bombs open in midair and scatter dozens or hundreds of submunitions over a wide area. Some duds do not explode and can remain a threat for many years. The majority of people killed or maimed by cluster munitions are civilians, according to a recent report by the Britain-based Handicap International. Children are especially vulnerable because they are easily attracted to the bomblets' bright, colorful casings, mistaking the volatile explosives for toys.

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