OPINION: U.S. representative in DISEC completely disregards safeguard of civilians hit by cluster bombs — “I don’t know, I don’t care”
All-Jazeera
The afternoon session of the First Committee of the UN General Assembly witnessed opposed forces at work affecting the discussion. At the same time that the discussion progressed on the text of the coming resolutions — with representatives opining on the wording of draft paragraphs rather than on the broad situations related to the topic at hand — a thorough analysis of the draft indicates that the resulting text favored much more the developed, cluster bomb-producing or stockpiling states than the developing, war-torn countries that need assistance as they still struggle to safeguard their civilian population away from cluster bomb attacks and unexploded ordnances.
The present draft text includes rather contradictory recommendations, such as the request for countries that employ cluster munition on foreign territories to take charge of the humanitarian responsibility for the succeeding casualties, preceded by the recognition that countries that maintain stockpiles of cluster munitions do so purely based on defense measures. This contradiction stems from the joint effort of assuming the humanitarian responsibility for civilian casualties, alongside propositions that soften the blow for states not parties to the Convention of Cluster Munitions (CCM) that claim the right to produce, transfer and employ cluster munitions as they will.
In a rather symbolic example of the work of these conflicting forces, the representative of the United States, as illustrated above with the representative of Cuba in the background, declared the neglect of his country on what concerns the protection of civilians hit during cluster bomb deployments or who happen to be struck by the activation of unexploded ordnance. The characterization of the killing and maiming of civilians as “collateral damage”, in an attempt to artificially build the good reputation of a military operation, demonstrates to what extent warring nations are willing to go to validate the pursuit of their political interests in spite of the fulfillment of their humanitarian responsibilities.
It must be noted, however, that most of the UN member states have signed the CCM, committing themselves to end producing, transferring and deployment of cluster munitions, as well as destroying their stockpiles. If it comes to approving the resolution of the First Committee by a recorded vote, then it will be up to this majority to shift the favor over from the states that profit from cluster munitions to the populations harmed by their use.
