Over 100 nations will gather in Dublin today to begin discussions on an international treaty to ban cluster bombs.Cluster bombs open in mid-air and drop hundreds of individual sub-munitions or "bomblets" over a wide area.
Unexploded bomblets, in populated areas, can sit on the ground for years, effectively becoming landmines. Their victims are often children, who mistake them for toys. When they explode, hundreds of metal fragments tear apart flesh and sever limbs. In rural areas, unexploded munitions make it dangerous or impossible to use land.
Is the UK pushing for a total ban on cluster bombs? No.
Is the UK saying that "our" cluster bombs "only" have a failure rate of 2% ... and that's ok? Yes.
2% is what the arms manufacturers say, whilst independent analysis says 10% remain unexploded.
Cluster munitions caused more civilian casualties in Iraq in 2003 than any other weapon, and the UK should be pressing for a total worldwide ban.
Video: Cluster bombs and farming in Laos
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