May 30, 2008

GENEVA – The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) welcomes the adoption of the new treaty to ban cluster bombs, agreed at the international Dublin Conference on Cluster Munitions, and urges countries that had not participated in the initiative to join the process.

In a public statement released today, LWF General Secretary Rev. Dr Ishmael Noko praised the governments and civil society organizations that had worked together during the 19-30 May conference "to realize a framework for ridding the world of cluster munitions, following the example of the Landmine Ban Treaty." He called on those who had not signed on to sign the new "Cluster Munitions Convention when it opens for signature in Oslo later this year, and to contribute to the swift implementation of a comprehensive ban on cluster munitions."

Noko's statement underlines the LWF's longstanding opposition to indiscriminate weapons such as landmines and cluster munitions, saying their deadly effects continued to be felt decades after a conflict had ended.

"In post-conflict locations around the world, civilians – especially children – are maimed or killed by such weapons every day," said Noko, citing the LWF's initiatives to protect communities from the lingering threat of landmines especially in Cambodia and Southern Sudan.

He called upon LWF member churches to continue in their own countries "to work for the rapid and complete global abolition of landmines, cluster munitions and all such indiscriminate weapons."

The full text of Dr Noko's statement is available on the LWF Web site at: http://www.lutheranworld.org/LWF_Documents/Statement-Cluster_Bombs_Dr_Noko-EN.pdf.

Lutheran World Information