Written answers
Tuesday, 19 May 2015
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade
UN Conventions
Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent)
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35. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade his views on the recent use of cluster munitions by Saudi Arabia, in its airstrikes against Yemen, as reported by Human Rights Watch, particularly in view of our stated commitment to the implementation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19309/15]
Charles Flanagan (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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Ireland continues to support and encourage universalisation of the Convention in all multilateral fora and is deeply concerned about reports of any use of cluster munitions including recent allegations of their use in Yemen.
I call upon all states, including those States who have not signed the Convention, as well as non-state actors to refrain from using these weapons.
My Department is now preparing for the First Review Conference to the Convention, which will take place in Croatia in September 2015, and which presents an important opportunity to further strengthen and solidify the growing international norm against the use and retention of these inhumane weapons.
The Convention on Cluster Munitions (CCM) was adopted at a Diplomatic Conference in Dublin in 2008. Ireland has been a major supporter of the movement to ban cluster munitions from the very outset of this initiative.
The Convention entered into force on 1 August 2010 and as of 25 March 2015 a total of 116 states have joined the Convention (91 States parties and 25 Signatories).
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