Malta
is among 46 nations that signed up to a new international process to ban cluster
ina bid to protect civilians from their impact. Cluster bombs have been used in
at least 23 countries and have caused excessive harm to civilians for over 40
years.
Negotiations on the text of the treaty will happen in a
series of meetings in
Peru,
Austria and
Ireland during 2007 and early 2008.
The signing up took place in a conference held between Thursday and Friday at
Soria Moria in
Oslo,
Norway.
The nations that have signed up to the declaration include
Afghanistan, Angola, Argentina, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina,
Canada, Chile, Columbia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt,
Finland, France, Germany, Guatemala, Holy See, Hungary, Iceland, Indonesia,
Ireland, Italy, Jordan, Latvia, Lebanon, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg,
Malta, Mexico, Mozambique, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Peru, Portugal,
Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the
United Kingdom.
Only
Japan,
Romania and
Poland refused
to sign up, said Reuters.
The next meeting in the new process will take place in
Lima,
Peru
between the 23rd and 25th May 2007.
