MEDIA RELEASE
June 4, 2007
Australian military to buy cluster bombs: is depleted uranium next?
This week the Australian Defence Force (ADF) announced their intention to add cluster bombs to their arsenal. Cluster bombs have received international condemnation for their tendency to kill many non-target victims, especially children. They have been recommended for banning in the U.N and are the subject of a 68 country treaty. Yet the ADF choose to fly in the face of ethical conventions in warfare with this purchase. The Peace Convergence condemns the Australian government who made this decision, and asks “Will depleted uranium and other unethical weapons be next?”
Cluster bombs release many smaller bomblets that pepper a wide area and do not necessarily detonate on impact, but are designed to kill people who come in contact with them some time later, just like land mines, already banned in the U.N and by many countries.
Kim Stewart, speaking for the Peace Convergence says, “98% of the victims of cluster bombs are civilians. They are still blowing the limbs off children in Vietnam today. The U.S. dropped almost 30,000 kilos of cluster bombs in Iraq, which will go on killing innocents for decades.
”The U.S military, with whom the ADF are making increasing links, has no compunction about using munitions that cause unnecessary non-target deaths like depleted uranium, cluster bombs and white phosphorus. In our eagerness to follow the U.S military lead will we soon also see depleted uranium in Australia’s arsenal?”
“The Australian government is already trying to undermine the call for an international treaty to ban cluster bombs, by trying to secure different rules for themselves.”
Dr Zohl de Ishtar, from the Australian Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies, says, “This development signals to us that the Australian government and the ADF are willing to side with the international rogue state, the United States, no matter how unethical their practices may be.”
"Will we see cluster bombs used on Australian territory during war games like Talisman Sabre 07? Is this the kind of unethical ally Australians are comfortable with?"
Peace Convergence media contacts:
Kim Stewart, Friends of Earth Brisbane 0413 397 859
Dr Zohl de Ishtar, Australian Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies 0429 422 645
The Peace Convergence is a collective of groups and individuals dedicated to peaceful non-violent actions against war and militarism
Ahimsa House - Anti Nuclear Alliance of WA - Australian Anti-Bases Coalition - Australian Democrats - Australian Greens - Brisbane Anarchists Subverting the Aust Representative Democracy - Brisbane Stop the War Collective - Byron Bay Peace Convergence - Cairns and Regional Environment Council - Dr. Helen Caldicott - Fanai Castro: Chamorro Movement, Guam - Christians Against All Terrorism - Citizens Against Depleted Uranium - Cycle Against the Nuclear Cycle - Depleted Uranium Silent Killer - Food Not Bombs - Fremantle Anti Nuclear Group - Friends of the Earth Australia - Friends of the Earth Brisbane - Frontline Films - Greenpeace Australia Pacific - Dr. Zohl de Istar, Aust. Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies - Just Peace Queensland - Terri Keko'olani, Kanaka Maol Movement, Hawaii - Medical Association for the Prevention of War - Melbourne Peace Convergence - NSW Greens - Nuclear Free and Independent Pacific - Peace Convergence collective - People for Nuclear Disarmament (WA)- Pine Gap 6 - Professor Kevin Clements, Director Aust. Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies - Quakers Queensland - Queensland Conservation Council - Queensland Democrats - Queensland Greens - Queensland Nuclear Free Alliance - Sea Shepherd Conservation Society - Senator Andrew Bartlett - Shoalwater Wilderness Awareness Group - Spirit of Eureka - Sunshine Coast Environment Council - Dr. David Suzuki - Sydney Stop the War Coalition - Uniting Church Justice Reference Group (Melb) - Whalecall - Wildlife Protection Association Australia - Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom - Ya Basta Collective, Kuranda