“Norway will, in keeping with the convention, destroy all its cluster munitions in the course of the next few months. We are also contributing more than NOK 100 million a year for clearance of affected areas and assistance to victims of cluster munitions,” said the Foreign Minister.
“We are looking forward to coming together in Laos at the end of 2010 for the first meeting of states parties to the Convention on Cluster Munitions,” he said.
The Convention on Cluster Munitions was opened for signature in Oslo on 3 December 2008. So far 104 states have joined the international ban on cluster munitions. The convention prohibits any use, stockpiling, production, acquisition or transfer of cluster munitions. It also sets out an obligation for states to destroy their own stockpiles and assist affected countries in clearing hazardous unexploded ordnance that is left on the ground. Victims are also entitled to assistance under the convention.
The Convention on Cluster Munitions was finalised at a diplomatic conference in Dublin in 2008, following an initiative taken by Norway in what is known as the Oslo process. The convention is the result of a unique partnership between states, the UN, the International Red Cross movement and humanitarian organisations.
At the signing ceremony in Oslo in 2008, two Ethiopian victims of cluster munitions from the Eritrean attack on the Ayre School in Mekelle, Tigray in 1998 were present. Before their departure for Oslo, they met with Ambassador Kjemprud and gave a clear message against cluster munitions. ( http://www.norway.org.et/News_and_events/DevelopmentCooperation/peace/novictimlikeus/)
Ethiopia has not yet signed the ban on cluster munitions. However, the country has made great progress in terms of the Mine Ban Treaty (http://www.norway.org.et/News_and_events/etiopia/mine/) . On April 2nd 2002, Ethiopia declared that the country had completed destruction of stockpiled mines (http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/PSLG-7R5GFQ?OpenDocument)
The Embassy in Addis Abeba has a bilateral agreement with the Ethiopian Mine Action Office and Norwegian People’s Aid in terms of capacity-building on mine-detection dogs, as well as the establishment of a Mine Action Training Centre on Mount Entoto. (http://www.norway.org.et/News_and_events/etiopia/npa_entoto/)