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Cluster Munitions (Prohibitions) Bill [Lords]

This legislation and the convention on cluster munitions are welcome. In warfare we should always strive to ensure that civilian casualties are kept to a minimum. The principle that civilians are protected from the effects of warfare and conflict, and that non-combatants are treated humanely during warfare and conflict and its aftermath, is something that we must observe, and the convention and the legislation take a step in the right direction. At a time when our moral standing as a great power has been questioned morally and ethically in respect of our foreign policy, and widely judged by the public here and abroad, we are sending out a positive signal by ratifying the convention. I am sure that over the years we have all been contacted by our constituents and various lobby groups and charities, highlighting the dangers of cluster munitions. Even in areas where wars and conflicts have finished, cluster munitions pose a threat to civilians for decades. In Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos, there are still regular instances of civilians—often children born a generation after the bombs were dropped—being maimed and killed. It is estimated that there are 300 new victims a year in that area—almost one a day. A cluster submunition explosion took the life of a 40-year-old man in Quang Tri in Vietnam in February, and five children were killed and another was injured when a cluster submunition exploded in a village in Laos—also in February. Those are just two of the many sad cases that highlight for us all the need to take action matter, but ratifying the convention and passing the legislation is just one step in the process of dealing with cluster munitions. A number of outstanding issues need to be resolved nationally and internationally to make the convention more effective. I should welcome from the Minister an explanation of how our obligations under the convention will be consistent with the support that we give to our allies who are not signatories. Article 1 states:""Each State Party undertakes never under any circumstances to… Assist, encourage or induce anyone to engage in any activity prohibited to a State Party under this Convention."" The UK has always had an important working relationship with the USA on military operations. However, the USA is not a signatory to the convention, and nor is Pakistan, with whom we are also working on operations in Afghanistan. How will our ratification of the convention and obligations under article 1 be consistent with the joint working relationship that we need with our allies? By working with those countries on joint military operations, would the UK be in breach of article 1 and the requirement not to "Assist, encourage or induce" others to use cluster bombs? If we gave our allies intelligence on the location of enemy positions in Afghanistan, and they then chose to use cluster bombs in that area, would the UK be in breach of the convention and those officers involved sanctioned under clause 2 of the Bill? Would a British soldier working with US forces on an operation in which cluster munitions were used be prosecuted under clause 2? Or do the Government envisage a protocol whereby we will co-operate with our allies only on the condition that cluster bombs be not used? In the NATO operation in Serbia and Kosovo, which was championed by our former Prime Minister and widely supported, cluster munitions were used. Under clause 2, however, troops involved in joint operations could face up to 14 years in prison if convicted of "assisting, encouraging or inducing" our allies in using prohibited munitions. Once we ratify the convention, how will future operations be affected when our allies might be using those weapons? Then there is the matter of cluster munitions at US bases in the UK. The Minister touched on it in his opening comments, but it is unclear whether by permitting that practice the UK would be breaching its obligations and committing an offence under the Bill. As we know from the use of US bases in Britain for extraordinary rendition, whereby Britain has been complicit and implicated in that practice, our moral standing on such issues can be undermined by our associations with our allies. The Government have yet to provide clarity on those matters or the reassurances that we would like to ensure that our armed forces are not compromised in their tremendous work in theatres of war to bring about peace and security. The Government also need to outline to us their plans to lobby other countries to sign up to the convention. In addition to America and Pakistan, a significant number of other countries have yet to sign up. Israel, Georgia and Russia have all reportedly used cluster munitions and are not signatories to the convention, and we have all seen, from the Georgian-Russian conflict and the ongoing violence in the middle east, the devastating effects of cluster munitions. Other non-signatories include those regional powers that aspire to permanent seats on the UN Security Council—Brazil, India, China, Argentina, North Korea, Iran and Syria—and non-state organisations, such as Hezbollah. There is nothing to prevent those countries and groups from producing such weapons and trading them. When Parliament agreed to replace Trident, we also agreed to continue to renew our efforts under the nuclear non-proliferation treaty to support arms reduction. We should be doing likewise with this convention and pushing forward with efforts to get other countries on board. I would be concerned if the UK had to enter a conflict in which our enemies were using those devices. At the Oslo conference in December 2008, the Foreign Secretary stated that the UK's decision to sign the convention would send "a clear political message" to others, and it is important that the message is understood by those countries and reinforced. I understand that under article 3, signatories must undertake to destroy their stockpiles of prohibited cluster munitions within eight years. It would be helpful to know from the Minister the progress that the UK and other parties to the convention are making in destroying those weapons. I should also be interested to know the shelf-life of such weapons, the cost of destroying them and the reduction in cost as a result of the eight-year period. I should also welcome from the Minister further details on how the UK will meet its obligations to help clear cluster munitions under article 4 of the convention, and to support victims under article 5. Although those measures are not covered by the Bill, they are part of the convention. Some 6 million to 7 million cluster munitions are thought to be in Laos, and munitions are present in Georgia, Africa, Afghanistan and the middle east. The international community has made progress in clearing land mines over recent years, and I urge the Minister to step up efforts, in the year that this convention comes into force, to clear up unexploded cluster munitions. I should welcome also an explanation of how our obligations under the convention will be consistent with the support that we give to our allies who are not signatories to the convention. When I was a solider, I was trained to understand that cluster munitions would be used to protect areas in the same way as setting land mines would. They were an important defensive measure for an army being trained to resist the might of the Soviet Union. I hope that we will learn what we would do if such threats were to exist in future—although obviously not in the same way as they existed in the '80s or earlier. We would not like our troops to have their hands tied behind their backs, but equally we must do everything that we can to ensure that stories such as that which my hon. Friend the Member for Salisbury (Robert Key) told never occur again. Therefore, I welcome the Bill.