Belgium is the first country in the world to have banned cluster bombs by equating them to anti-personnel mines. Last Saturday, the Belgian Parliament passed a bill of law to such effect. Cluster bombs, which are thrown from aircrafts or artillery devices, open up in mid-air and scatter, over a wide range, dozens of smaller bombs that explode as they touch the ground. “It’s a first, essential, step – said Simona Beltrame, coordinator of the Italian Campaign against mines towards the eradication of these weapons that risk causing a even worse humanitarian crisis than the one caused by mines, not least because of the very high number of small primed explosives they leave on the ground”. These weapons state many humanitarian agencies , when they are left unexploded on the ground, become extremely powerful anti-personnel mines, with devastating consequences on the lives, health and the economic and social recovery of the affected populations. An identical bill of law was submitted to the Senate in Italy, at the end of 2004, and “it wasn’t even discussed”, explains Beltrame: “We hope that, in the next legislature, the Italian Parliament will follow in the footsteps of the Belgian Parliament, and we will strive to raise public awareness in support of parliamentary initiatives against cluster bombs”.
