Stop cluster munitions now!
Statement from the participants of the Red Cross/Red Crescent youth conference concerning the use of cluster munitions, hosted by the Norwegian Red Cross Youth, Oslo 5-6 December 2006.
We, youth members of the Red Cross and Red Crescent National Societies of Armenia, Colombia, Denmark, Finland, Kenya, Lebanon, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain and Sweden meeting in Oslo on the 5th and 6th of December 2006, appeal to all states to immediately stop the use of all types of cluster munitions that cause severe harm to civilian populations.
We are alarmed by the humanitarian consequences caused by cluster munitions. Even though the world, for decades, has witnessed the unacceptable impact these weapons have upon civilians, most states still have neither shown the will nor taken the initiative to regulate the use of cluster munitions.
The billions of cluster submunitions stockpiled around the world pose an unacceptable humanitarian threat. We urge all states to take immediate national measures while actively working for an international agreement. These national measures should impose, as a minimum, a freeze on the use of cluster munitions.
We urge all states to participate in the diplomatic process aiming at achieving an effective ban within the shortest timeframe possible. We thereby encourage your participation in the conference hosted by the Norwegian government in Oslo between the 21st and 23rd of February 2007 to discuss the issue of cluster munitions.
We call upon urgent action. These weapons will continue to excessively affect civilians until there is a legally binding agreement providing for their destruction.
Oslo, December 6, 2006