CLUSTER MUNITIONS

That this House welcomes the progress made at the Vienna International Conference, the most recent stage in the Oslo process, launched in February 2007 with the aim of agreeing a new treaty banning cluster munitions; recognises that this process is, now, supported by 138 countries and has the full backing of the United Nations; applauds the position taken by the vast majority of these nations who support a comprehensive treaty banning all forms of cluster munitions; is concerned, however, that a number of countries that currently stockpile cluster bombs, including the United Kingdom, are seeking to water down the treaty by introducing an exemption for cluster munitions that have self-destruct mechanisms, such as the Israeli manufactured M85; points to the most recent evidence from Lebanon showing that the M85 self-destruct mechanism has a failure rate close to 10 per cent. rather than the 1 per cent. rate claimed by manufacturers; and therefore calls on the Government to work for a robust treaty that will ban all cluster bombs.