clipped from: www.commondreams.org   

Ban on cluster bomb production due to pass into international humanitarian law, despite absence of US, Russia signatures

OSLO - Governments from around the world today began signing an international convention banning the production of cluster bombs - unexploded canisters that have killed and maimed thousands of civilians and remain scattered dozen of countries.

Norway, which has led the efforts to ban cluster munitions, was the first country to sign. It was followed by Laos - where cluster bombs dropped by US planes more than 30 years ago are still killing civilians, and Lebanon

There will, however, be a number of notable absentees, including the US, China, Russia, India and Pakistan as well as Israel, which fired many cluster bombs during the 2006 Lebanon war.

The US and other nations insist cluster bombs have a legitimate military use. One group that deals with the issue, Handicap International, says 98% of cluster-bomb victims are civilians and 27% are children.