HELP Advocates Sri Lanka takes action against cluster bombs
December 7, 2008
On November 29th at 1:30 am the Sri Lankan Air Force dropped 16 cluster bombs on a densely populated Internally Displaced Person (IDP) settlement in Northern Sri Lanka, killing 3 and wounding dozens. The camp which had earlier been declared as a ‘secure zone’ is reported to have been a refuge for Tamil IDPs who had been displaced by the Sri Lankan government’s military actions and by heavy rains and flooding from Cyclone Nisha.
The munitions, said to be one of the deadliest non-nuclear weapons to exist, can cause unacceptable humanitarian harm in two ways, according to Human Rights Watch. “First, their broad-area effect kills and injures civilians indiscriminately during strikes. Second, many submunitions do not explode, becoming de facto landmines that cause civilian casualties for months or years to come.”
Ironically Sri Lanka’s inclination to use these weapons comes just days before the signing of a treaty by 94 countries to ban cluster munitions. The Government, which has stockpiled bombs that would become prohibited under the agreement, is not a party to the Convention.
HELP Advocates Sri Lanka calls upon the Cluster Munition Coalition (CMC) to recognize and blacklist Sri Lanka as an active user of cluster bombs to indiscriminately target and terrorize their Tamil civilian population.