On 3 and 4 December 2008, 94 states signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions. This treaty prohibits the use, stockpiling, manufacture and transfer of cluster munitions and includes groundbreaking provisions to assist victims. Handicap International actively participated in drafting this treaty and for several years campaigned to prohibit these weapons together with partners from the Cluster Munition Coalition, a network that includes about 300 NGOs. In the last two years, the process has accelerated.

2005
2 February: All sections of Handicap International agreed to call for a ban on cluster munitions. 9 March: Handicap International invited the Belgian Senate to work toward a ban on cluster munitions.
7 April: Handicap International, Human Rights Watch, Netwerk Vlaanderen and the Norwegian Petroleum Fund organized a joint press conference in Brussels on the theme: ‘Cluster bombs: worse than antipersonnel mines’
14 April: A Belgian Senator tabled a bill to ban ‘fragmentation bombs’.
28 June: The Senate Defense and Foreign Affairs Committee organized a debate on the bill. Handicap International was invited to present its point of view. The bill was amended to ban cluster munitions. On 7 July, the Senate Plenary Meeting unanimously adopted the amended bill, which was then transmitted to the House of Representatives.

2006
19 January: The European Parliament launched an appeal for the ‘eradication’ of cluster munitions.
16 February: Despite strong opposition from the weapons industry and some international pressure, the Belgian Federal Parliament adopted a law banning cluster munitions. A second law detailed the definition of the weapon.
2 November: Handicap International launched Fatal Footprint, the first global report on the human impact of cluster munitions.
17 November: Following the failure of discussions on cluster munitions in the context of the Convention on Conventional Weapons, Norway launched an alternative process as Canada had done for antipersonnel mines.

2007
22-23 February: Norway organized an international conference on cluster munitions. In the Oslo Declaration, 46 states agreed to sign a treaty before the end of 2008, banning cluster munitions and providing a framework for the assistance to affected communities.
23-25 May: 67 states took part in the Lima Conference (Peru) on cluster munitions. Among the participants, 27 countries were participating in the Oslo process for the first time. The treaty began to take shape. 5-7 December: 138 states took part in the Vienna conference (Austria) on cluster munitions.

2008
18-22 February: A new draft text of the treaty was discussed at the Wellington Conference (New Zealand). After a week of tension between supporters of a complete ban and supporters of exceptions, participating states accepted to negotiate and agreed on the rules of these negotiations. March and April: During the various regional conferences in Africa, South East Asia and Latin America, the positions of governments gradually came together on the draft text of the treaty.
19-30 May: After two weeks of negotiations, 107 states participating in the Dublin Conference adopted the text of the Convention on Cluster Munitions.
27 November: Opening of the open-air Fatal Footprint exhibition in Brussels. Photographs taken by Belgian photographers showed the suffering of survivors of antipersonnel mines, cluster munitions and other unexploded ordnance. In 2009, this exhibition will also travel to other Belgian and foreign towns.

3-4 December: At the Signing Conference in Oslo, 94 states signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

Stan Brabant, Head of the Policy Unit at Handicap International, talks about the background of the treaty.

What triggered this project?
Stan Brabant : When Belgium became the first country to ban cluster munitions in February 2006, after a year of very intensive advocacy efforts, many disarmament actors turned to us. Suddenly, people realized that banning cluster munitions had become possible. We received enthusiastic reactions from NGOs all over the world, and from some governments as well. We began to hope. We had already acquired substantial advocacy experience with the landmine campaign, which resulted in the Ottawa Treaty. Since then, government representatives had realized that we were serious. In summer 2006, the war in Lebanon also drew attention to the problem of cluster munitions. Diplomatic pressure intensified but traditional diplomacy failed to address cluster munitions. Norway, a country with a long tradition in peace diplomacy, seized the opportunity and launched what was to become the Oslo process. In February 2007, 46 states met for the first time and at the end of 2008 cluster munitions were banned forever.

How did you convince government representatives to sign the treaty?
SB : First of all, we published two reports that drew attention to the human impact of cluster munitions, not exclusively based on figures, but also showing the dramatic situations caused by the use of these weapons. Then we set up a group of victims of cluster munitions, the Ban Advocates that gradually took on a major role in the process. Thanks to the interventions of this group, government representatives were directly confronted with the suffering caused by these weapons and we can thank the Ban Advocates for several signatures at the bottom of the treaty, by states that were initially reluctant to do so. This is notably the case with Afghanistan who decided - after a conversation on the eve of the signature conference with Soraj Ghulam Habib, one of the Ban Advocates - to sign the treaty. Our strength comes from working with these people within a network. Compared to other diplomatic processes, everything went very quickly

Has the treaty been signed by a sufficient number of countries to have a real influence?
SB : To create a new standard, we had to generate a critical mass supporting the treaty. With 98 signatures to date we can say that this figure was reached. In the future, if a country that has not signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions uses this weapon, it will be criticized all over the world. In a few years, we have managed to make the use of cluster munitions unacceptable. The treaty will come into effect once it has been ratified by 30 states. The most important thing is to stop the use of this weapon, to destroy stocks and - this is crucial - to ensure that victims receive the assistance to which they are entitled.

Speaking of that, does the treaty provide guarantees for victims?
SB : We did indeed advocate for solid guarantees for victims. And we see a significant success in the fact that these guarantees were integrated. The concept of a ‘victim’ is defined broadly: it also includes the families and communities that are affected. The Oslo Treaty obliges signatory states to provide medical aid, physical rehabilitation, socio-economic and psychological support for victims of cluster munitions, and to collect data on these victims. The text of the treaty also includes a detailed list of very concrete measures that states are required to take when providing support to victims.

What challenges are still to come?
SB : We still need to convince certain states to adhere to the treaty. We also need to ascertain that the treaty does not remain wishful thinking. Victims must benefit from real support; the guarantees contained in the treaty must be put into practice. The daily life of cluster munition survivors and their families is what really counts. Consequently, we will monitor the evolution of the situation in all countries, we will collect information on government action (or inaction) and, obviously, we will continue to put pressure on governments.

What do you think was the greatest moment in this process?
SB : The signature ceremony in Oslo. The atmosphere was fantastic. At the end of the ceremony, the entire Ban Advocates team came up on stage. One of them, Behiru Mesele from Ethiopia, took the floor to thank everyone who had been involved in the process. After his speech, the entire audience stood up in thundering applause. I had never seen that at an international conference. It was unbelievable.

Afghanistan, Albania, Angola, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Benin, Bolivia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Botswana, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Canada, Cap Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Chile, Colombia, Comoros, Congo (Republic of ), Cook Islands, Costa Rica, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Ecuador, Fiji Islands, France, Gambia, Germany, Ghana, Guatemala, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Holy See, Honduras, Hungary, Iceland, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Ivory Coast, Japan, Kenya, Laos (People's Republic of ), Lebanon, Lesotho, Liberia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, FRY Macedonia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Malta, Mexico, Moldavia, Monaco, Montenegro, Mozambique, Namibia, Nauru, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Niger, Norway, Palau, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Portugal, Rwanda, Saint-Marin, Salvador, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Slovenia, Somalia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, United Kingdom, Uruguay and Zambia.