Author(s):
Site Admin <webmaster2@icbl.org> .
Wednesday 14 February 2007
Ten years after the Nobel Prize winning campaign to ban landmines, some 40 governments and as many civil society organisations will meet in Oslo to launch an international process to ban cluster bombs that cause unacceptable humanitarian consequences. These preventable, predictable and unacceptable consequences have been increasingly brought to light by recent conflicts including in Lebanon, Iraq, Afghanistan and the Balkans.
Following the failure of disarmament talks in Geneva, the Norwegian government will host a state meeting on Thursday 22 and Friday 23 February 2007. The Oslo Conference on Cluster Munitions (OCCM) is the first meeting in a Norwegian initiative to prohibit cluster munitions that cause unacceptable human suffering.
Parallel to the government meeting , the Cluster Munition Coalition (CMC), in partnership with Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA), is organising an international Civil Society Forum on Cluster Munitions, as well as a series of events for non-governmental organisations, campaigners, the public and the media. These will be held from Tuesday 20 to Friday 23 February 2007. The civil society presence will ensure due diligence on talks, and make sure that governments know they will be held accountable. The conference will be attended by leading international organisations such as: Human Rights Watch, Handicap International, International Campaign to ban landmines (ICBL), Landmine Action UK, Mines Action Canada and the International Committee of the Red Cross. Panellists at the Civil Society Forum on Cluster Munitions will include cluster bomb victims from Lebanon and Serbia, Jody Williams, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1997 for the landmine campaign, the Norwegian Minister of Development Mr Erik Solheim, and the Deputy President of the European Parliament, Luisa Morgantini.
Programme:
- 20/02/07: Press briefing – what are cluster munitions? 14:00-16.00, Presseklubben, Egertorget, Oslo, Norway
- 21/02/07: Civil Society Forum on Cluster Munitions: Nobel Peace Centre,
Raadhusplassen, Oslo, Norway - http://www.nobelpeacecenter.org
- 10.00 Press conference with international parliamentarians
(at the Norwegian Parliament – Stortinget)
- 11.00 CMC Press Conference with lunch
- 12.00-17.00: Civil Society Forum (16.45 – visual event outside NPC)
22-23/02/07: The Oslo Conference on Cluster Munitions (state meeting) and NGO Training Workshop, Soria Moria Conference Centre, Voksenkollveien. 60, Oslo, Norway - www.soriamoria.no
Interviews can be arranged with panellists in the Civil Society Forum on Cluster Munitions, members of the Steering Committee of the CMC, technical experts, parliamentarians from various European countries, representatives of affected communities, survivors of cluster munitions. Online resources, press releases, spokespeople, interviewee biographies, pictures and more, can be found by following the media link at http://www.stopclustermunitions.org/
Contact: Lars Molteberg Glomnes, Media coordinator, Norwegian People’s Aid,
+47 909 60 829, larmol@npaid.org. Requests in other languages will be forwarded.
