| Prominent international religious leaders are launching an appeal in favour of the protection of human life and of peace, inviting all governments to put an end to the fabrication, transport, storage and use of cluster bombs. The appeal also calls for a treaty banning this type of weapon.
Development and Peace is joining voices with Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa, Sister Emmanuelle of France, Bishop Pierre Morissette of Canada, and many others in this campaign, led globally by the Cluster Munitions Coalition and Pax Christi International, and in Canada by Antennes de Paix.
For more than 40 years, cluster bombs have killed and wounded innocent people, causing inhumane suffering, loss and hardship for thousands. Like anti-personnel landmines, cluster bombs have indiscriminate wide-area effects, detonating during conflicts or long afterwards.
According to Pax Christi International, during the last four decades, 34 countries are known to have produced such weapons, 75 countries are still stockpiling them, and at least 13 countries have used them in 29 countries and territories.
The religious leaders press the Canadian government and all governments to actively support the International Treaty banning cluster bombs, which will be discussed during the Dublin Conference May 19 - 30, 2008.
One month before the beginning of the Conference – on Saturday, April 19 – citizens around the world will participate in the Global Action Day to Ban Cluster Bombs, organised by the Cluster Munitions Coalition (CMC).
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Development and Peace is a democratic international solidarity movement that has worked for more than 40 years with organizations made up of or representing the poor and marginalized in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East. In Canada, Development and Peace numbers 13,000 active members, working together to educate the public about the root causes of poverty and mobilizing social action for change. Development and Peace is the official international development organization of the Catholic Church in Canada and the Canadian member (as Caritas Canada) of Caritas Internationalis..
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