CLUSTER MUNITIONS (No. 2)

That this House regrets the failure of the third five-yearly Review Conference on Conventional Weapons in Geneva between 7th and 17th November to agree to direct negotiations on the future of cluster munitions; congratulates the 30 nations who expressed their willingness to begin talks on a new instrument to cover these weapons; is dismayed that the United Kingdom joined with the United States, Russia, China and others to block such negotiations; recognises that cluster munitions have caused unacceptable numbers of civilian casualties in conflicts throughout the world both at the time of attack and in the post-conflict period as a result of unexploded ordnance contamination; and calls on the United Kingdom Government to work with other states to achieve a global ban on these indiscriminate weapons systems.