Septembar 21 – The International Day of Peace
On the occasion of The International Day of Peace, the network of Women in Black organizations calls on the Armed Forces, the Ministry of Defence and the National Security Council of Serbia to sign the Convention on Cluster Munitions.
The Convention on Claster Munitions entered into force on August 1st, 2010. The Convention bans the use, stockpiling and transfer of cluster munitions. Moreover, it stipulates the elimination of existing stockpiles of these weapons. Signing the Convention would be of a great importance hence it provides support and relief funds and health care for the victims of cluster munitions as well as financial help for clearing the areas of unexploded cluster munitions because Serbia is not financially feasible to undertake these projects.
By not signing the Convention, Serbian authorithies make possible for their male and female citizens to become the next civil victims of cluster munitions. This is confirmed by the fact that the remnants of unexploded cluster munitions were found on a roof of a school in Niš. Highly irresponsible behavior of the state mirrors in the fact that there was not a single representative from Belgrade institutions on a regional meeting regarding the ban on cluster munitions which was held in Niš on May 11, 2011.
We would like to remind the Minister of Defence of this treaty which has been adopted by 108 countries, including 57 countries that have ratified it and that Serbia is the only country from the former Yugoslavia that has not signed or ratified the Convention on Cluster Munitions which is a paradox for it had suffered the severest damage caused by this type of munitions. Bosnia and Herzegovina which produced cluster munitions, like Serbia, now largely caries out regulations of the Convention regarding the clearing the locations of existing cluster munitions and elimination of existing stockpiles.
On the occasion of Septembar 21 we ask again:
• Why does Serbia need cluster munitions if it declared itself to be the neutral country?
• Is Serbia producing and selling cluster munitions?
• How many stockpiles of cluster munitions does Serbia have?
• Have many victims of cluster munitions does Serbia have?
Victims from Serbia who survived mines and cluster munitions even nowadays do not have an adequate access to services which would provide them the basic human rights! They continue to suffer, especially in distant areas, not only from physical injuries but from an extreme poverty as well. Long-term support to victims need to be a priority but in Serbia the support is on a rhetorical level.
September 21, 2011. The Women in Black
