Religions for Peace Cluster Munitions Program

“It is not peace when children cannot play safely in their playgrounds.
It is not peace when farmers cannot cultivate their fields, nor fishermen draw their nets without fear.
It is not peace when people cannot move freely in their local communities.”

-from the Statement of the European Faith Leaders Conference on Cluster Munitions, 30 October 2008

Cluster munitions are non-discriminatory weapons that have for more than 60 years killed and wounded innocent people, many of them children, in more than 30 countries. These large weapons contain dozens to hundreds of smaller submunitions within a larger container that opens in the air and scatter over a wide area. Many fail to detonate and remain active on the ground, wherever they land. As such, they continue to inflict injury and death for years – sometimes decades – after the end of a war.

Religions for Peace welcomes the Convention on Cluster Munitions that was signed at the Oslo Conference in December 2008. It prohibits the use, production, stockpiling and transfer of cluster munitions and sets groundbreaking humanitarian obligations for victim assistance, clearance of contaminated land and destruction of stockpiles. This is the most significant humanitarian and disarmament treaty this decade.

Disarmament has been central to the mission of Religions for Peace since its founding.  From 1970, we have worked to advance nuclear weapons non-proliferation and reduction. It is important for Religions for Peace to respond to the changing threats of arms, including the threat of cluster bombs.  Religions for Peace has joined hands with other groups in the “Cluster Munitions Coalition” and taken the opportunity to help these secular groups understand the commitments of religious leaders.   

Our Commitment in Action

o Leaders of Europe’s major religions met in Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina, in October 2008 to address the issue of cluster munitions and to express support for the process to ban these weapons.

o A Religions for Peace delegation participated in the Dublin Diplomatic Conference on Cluster Munitions, May 2008 and will attend the CCM signing ceremony in Oslo, December 2008

o More than 60 Religions for Peace leaders signed an international appeal for a ban on cluster munitions in April 2008.

o Many religious leaders have been advocating for a ban with their respective governments through letter writing.

The Message

o We call upon all governments to ensure that cluster munitions are banned through signing the treaty, ratifying it, implementing it and contributing in the international work to clean up and dispose of cluster munitions, as well as supporting those affected. 

Your Commitment in Action

o Engage with your respective governments and make sure they fulfil their obligations as representatives of the people.

o Work through your own faith communities to educate people on this issue and encourage them to be agents of change, working in solidarity with the survivors, their families and communities affected by the menace of cluster munitions.