“Venezuela requests the prompt and final ban of cluster ammunitions, and pleads for the total and absolute proscription of weapons of mass destruction”, said the Foreign Affairs Deputy Minister for North America and Multilateral Affairs of Venezuela, Jorge Valero, during his participation at the Diplomatic Conference on Cluster Ammunition, held in Dublin, Ireland.

A press release issued by the Venezuelan Foreign Affairs Office states that Valero backed all the calls for total ban on this type of ammunition because its use brings about tragic consequences for civilians.

Cluster ammunition is a missile head or anti-person mine depositing hundreds of small bombs as it reaches its target.

“The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, a country that has supported the Oslo process from its beginnings, reaffirms its commitment to disarmament and full abidance by international law, including the international humanitarian law, and strives and pleads for the strengthening of international peace and security,” he added.

Valero also said that the negotiations which led to adopting the Ottawa Convention (1997) against the use of anti-person mines constitute a good experience and should serve as a reference to adopt a juridical instrument banning the manufacturing, use, transfer and storage of cluster ammunitions.

He stressed that the recent armed conflicts in Kosovo, Afghanistan, Iraq and Lebanon have revealed the inhumanly nature of such weapons. This ammunition remains uncontrollably scattered in urban and rural areas.

In the Deputy Minister’s opinion, the Conference should pave the way to reach agreements enshrining the respect for International Law and Humanitarian International Law.

“Reaching an international convention whereby cluster ammunition is banned, and which leaves no room for failure to comply therewith is an effort to be made within the framework of a policy fostering peace and coexistence amongst the people,” he said.

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