The Berlin Conference concluded last Friday, 26 June 2009, on an encouraging note, with many States reaffirming their commitments to ratify the Convention and destroy their stockpiles as soon as possible. There was a clear sense in the room that States were motivated to start their destruction processes even in advance of entry into force and almost every statement included a warm welcome to the Lao offer to host the First Meeting of the States Parties in Vientiane in November next year. 

Chile announced that it will host a regional meeting in September 2009 to encourage signature and promote ratification in the Latin America. Chile will also hold a second, international conference in early 2010 in support of the first Meeting of States Parties in Laos. Indonesia announced that it would hold a regional conference on cluster munitions in Bali, likely to be in November 2009. Austria is considering hosting a workshop on victim assistance in early 2010. 

The Deputy Foreign Minister of Lao PDR made an announcement about the third meeting of the Lao support group, held later Friday afternoon, which would adopt an informal road map on work to be undertaken between now and the First Meeting of States Parties. Minister Bounkhet encouraged all States Parties to work towards accelerating entry into force and to promote universalization. There was a clear commitment of support from participants to Laos as the host of the First Meeting of States Parties. Ireland said that it looked forward to working with its Lao colleagues on the terms of a draft UN General Assembly Resolution this year. 

Tanzania proposed that a regional meeting of Parliamentarians be convened in Africa in 2010 to sensitize Parliamentarians to the process. Tanzania also added that it had started its process of ratification, which it hoped to achieve by the end of 2010.

Peru stated that the relevant committees were considering ratification and that this would be introduced into parliament as soon as possible so that ratification could occur later this year.

Gambia announced that it has completed its memorandum of ratification, which would be tabled before parliament at its next meeting. Gambia said that while it was aware of the technical requirements for stockpile destruction, political will would be the key. 

Angola announced that it was "doing its homework" to ratify the Convention. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is requesting a full report as soon as possible from the Ministry of Defense and the General Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces which is necessary for Angola to proceed with its ratification. 

South Africa stated that it has a small number of stockpiled cluster munitions, which the government is committed to destroying as soon as possible. Unfortunately, the ratification process for the CCM has been slowed down by national elections which took place in February this year, South Africa said. Now that things had settled, the South African representative stated that officials would follow up to ensure it meets its obligations sooner rather than later. South Africa also stated that it had taken note of the need to start destruction now, rather than in the seventh year of the treaty's eight year deadline.

Lebanon stated the Berlin Conference was one more important step in a very important process and highlighted the continued desire from the international community to put an end to this infamous weapon. Lebanon called on States to start without delay to destroy their stocks and welcomed the offer of Lao PDR to host the first MSP, offering Lebanon's full support.

Denmark stated it was in the process of ratifying the Convention and was working on a draft bill to present to Parliament as early as possible. 

Colombia confirmed that it was in the initial stages of its ratification process, which was "lengthy due to internal procedures." Colombia emphasized the importance of international cooperation and assistance and, in particular, South-South cooperation.

One highlight of the day was a strong statement from the United Kingdom that despite having the dubious distinction of being the largest stockpiler present, it hoped to move off the top of the list soon. By April 2008, the UK had destroyed 5.3 million submunitions and should complete the destruction of its total stockpiles by 2013, well within the 8 year deadline. Like others, the UK offered its full support to Lao PDR ahead of the First Meeting of States Parties and committed to working hard within the Lao support group

The last session of the Conference dealt with the only controversial issue in Berlin: retention (or acquisition) of cluster munitions for research, training, and the development of technology and countermeasures. Ove Dullum of FFI (Norway), Detlev Justen of the German Institute for International and Security Affairs SWP;and Eric Carette, EOD group commanding officer (Belgium) gave presentations on arguments for and against the retention of cluster munitions. Mr. Justen and Carette focused only on the military arguments in favor of retaining cluster munitions.

Germany presented its own scheme of reclassifying cluster munitions for retention. Thomas Frisch presented a German proposal to reclassify retained cluster munitions according to "operational," "demilitarized," and "surrogate" classifications, stating that while the process of stigmatizing cluster munitions is at its beginning, there is a need for a balanced approach between military needs and minimizing retention. Germany stated that it would announce which types and quantities of submunitions it planned to retain and for which purposes at the first meeting of States Parties, as a matter of transparency. 

France argued that based on fact that 90% of the world's stockpiles of cluster munitions (the purely mythical number conjured up in the CCW last year) are in the hands of non-signatory States, France had a real need to retain cluster munitions to counter a threat of use. France stated that it would retain 500 cluster munitions (not submunitions, but entire cluster munitions with an unknown but potentially huge number of submunitions.)

Amb. Steffen Kongstad of Norway bluntly rejected any discussion which implied that cluster munitions would continue to be used. Amb. Kongstad stated that the discussion during the Berlin Conference had a premise of a starting point that cluster munitions would continue to be stockpiled, produced or used. This was a false premise, he said, and understated the impact of the CCM and its impact on military doctrine. Based on the Mine Ban Treaty experience, he said, two lessons were clear: the possibility of retention created a loophole in the treaty; and there was no evidence that suggested retention improved training practices. As most clearance is undertaken by civilian humanitarian organizations which do not use live cluster munitions, it is clear that it is always possible to make arguments on why it would be nice to retain submunitions from a technical point of view, but not why it would be necessary, and certainly not from a humanitarian point of view. The minimum number of cluster munitions absolutely necessary is zero, Amb. Kongstad said, echoing Mark Hiznay's message yesterday. 

Marion Libertucci delivered an intervention on behalf of the CMC arguing against the need for retaining cluster munitions. Lou Maresca, on behalf of the ICRC, also gave a strong statement questioning the logic of arguments presented by States in favor of retaining cluster munitions. Chris Clark, on behalf of UNMAS, refuted the notion presented by several States that it was necessary to train with live submunitions based on his extensive experience with clearing cluster munitions and there was no clear answer to his question to the panel of whether live unexploded submunitions were actually used in training. 

Austria, Chile, Colombia, and Norway all stated that they would not
retain any cluster munitions.

Branislav Kapetanovic delivered a personal and very moving closing statement for the CMC. 

Media attention around the Berlin conference was reasonable with German media much more mobilised than international/foreign correspondents. AFP and DPA and EFE were the main international wires that covered the event or the activities organised in the run-up to the conference. They syndicated a few stories in English, German and Spanish that were picked up by media in a range of countries (a full media update will be sent out soon). Despite initial contacts with CNN, Al Jazeera, BBC, AP and Reuters they did not cover the conference, partly due to competing issues in Germany at the time.

The only "breaking news" that came out during the conference was that Germany had ratified the treaty (which is actually not entirely true: while they have virtually completed domestic procedures, they haven't yet deposited their instrument in New York). This created a small buzz and some coverage in the news. This tends to show that news editors were on the look-out for something to be announced at the conference.

An interesting issue that was mentioned by several speakers during the Conference is that countries should publicize the destruction of their stocks as has been done for landmines over the past decade. The CMC will advocate for governments to do so by helping to contact the media, making events media-friendly and visually interesting, etc. The CMC staff can support campaigners with this. 

Overall, while inside the room the Berlin Conference was a bit technical and overly structured with presentations, as an event it clearly demonstrated the continued momentum from signatories, the majority of whom do not have stockpiles of cluster munitions, to carry work forward towards the implementation of the Convention. It also showed that the political will is there to destroy these weapons and to get started early and the media is still taking a keen interest in the Oslo Process. The updates on ratification formally during the Conference and privately to campaigners left all present with a positive sense that the entry into force of the Convention is attainable in the near future. Beyond that, the Convention on Cluster Munitions community is now well and truly on track to prepare for a successful First Meeting of the States Parties in Vientiane in November next year.

Thomas Kuchenmeister and all the German campaigners deserve a huge thank you from the CMC for all of their hard work in organizing the Berlin Conference as well as the Ban Advocates, whose presence was once again a motivation for everyone present. 

Best wishes,

Katie