NGOs MOVE AGAINST CLUSTER BOMBS
13 November 2003

Cluster bombs are controversial munitions, designed to explode outward from a central point, creating multiple explosions and dispersing shrapnel over a wide area. Many believe the technology itself effectively increases the risk of any bombing campaign to civilians and should therefore be banned. The aim of this campaign is to fully realize the basic human rights inherent in the Geneva Conventions and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, including the right of civilians not to be targeted by military attacks, directly or peripherally.

Pro-human rights advocates, as well as those in favor of such disarmament campaigns, suggest that the abolition of munitions which are likely to cause harm to civilians and to civilian centers can help to reduce the impetus to terrorist activities. In the same vein, an alternative security argument suggests that securing human rights and reducing the degree of violence inherent in all foreign policy can improve security at all levels. At the heart of the debate is a philosophical question about how exactly to secure such a peace. While swift and furious action is for some the ultimate deterrant, and therefore a more efficient means of achieving a lasting peace, critics argue that history provides little evidence to suggest such an outcome.

Contemporary warfare, with all of its technological expertise, does in fact continue to cause a large number of civilian casualties. Among populations that experience such widespread fear, or rather the "shock and awe" of heavy aerial assault, there is a basic tendency to form a culture of resentment toward the source of such weaponry. It is here that the global security issue enters the ethical discussion about risk to civilian lives and humanitarian standards. [For more: BBC]