Treaty on cluster bomb ban agreed at Dublin talks
Thursday May 29 2008
A landmark agreement aimed at ending the use of cluster bombs across the globe has been reached following a week of international talks in Dublin.
More than 100 countries have agreed a draft text for an historic treaty to outlaw the use of such munitions, which scatter several hundred "bomblets" over a wide area.
Many of the "bomblets" fail to explode and continue to claim the lives of civilians decades into the future.
The agreement on a new international treaty was reached late last night, but the US, Russia and China have refused to take part.
The deal will see the destruction of current stockpiles of cluster bombs in the participating nations.
