Human Rights Watch calls on Mideast states to ban cluster weapons

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Human Rights Watch says Middle East and North Africa governments should sign a new international treaty banning cluster weapons. In a statement released Monday, the rights group said that Lebanon and Tunisia are the only countries in the region that have signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions put forward in December. The statement added that cluster weapons have been used in several countries in the region including Lebanon, Iraq and Kuwait. A total of 94 countries signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions in Norway last month. Thirteen states from the region participated in meetings that led to the creation of the convention, but have not yet signed, the group added.