European Parliament resolution on cluster munitions
Date: 2004-10-28
Institutions: European Parliament
Subjects: anti-personnel weapon, arms limitation, firearms and munitions, international convention, non-proliferation of arms

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Official Journal of the European Union

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14.7.2005

Thursday 28 October 2004

4.
Calls on the Member States to monitor and investigate in a transparent manner mass strandings and
deaths of marine mammals in EU waters which are associated with the use of intense anthropogenic noise
and to communicate the findings to the Commission;

Calls on the European Commission to conduct a study of the potential impact on the marine environ-
5.
ment of the deployment of high-intensity active naval sonars and to provide an assessment, on the basis of
information from the Member States, of the impact of current practices in European waters;

Calls on the Commission and the Member States to set up a Multinational Task Force to develop
6.
international agreements regulating noise levels in the world's oceans, with a view to regulating and limiting
the adverse impact of anthropogenic sonars on marine mammals and fish;

7.
Considers that any measures to introduce common standards and cooperation in the defence industry
field must exclude and actively seek alternatives to technologies which are likely to cause unnecessary and
serious damage to the environment and other Community interests, such as, in this case, fisheries;

8.

Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council and Commission.

P6_TA(2004)0048

Cluster munitions

The European Parliament,

European Parliament resolution on cluster munitions

— having regard to its resolutions of 13 February 2003 on the harmful effects of unexploded ordnance
(landmines and cluster submunitions) and depleted uranium ammunition (1), of 13 December 2001 on
cluster bombs (2) and of 6 September 2001 on measures to promote a commitment by non-State actors
to a total ban on anti-personnel landmines (3),

— having regard to Protocol V of 28 November 2003 on Explosive Remnants of War to the UN Con-

vention on Certain Conventional Weapons,

— having regard to the Ottawa Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and

Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on Their Destruction of 1997,

— having regard to the Cluster Munition Coalition formed by 115 NGOs from 47 countries on 13 Nov-

ember 2003,

— having regard to Rule 115(5) of its Rules of Procedure,

A. whereas ‘explosive remnants of war’ (ERW) refers to unexploded ordnance (explosive ordnance that has
been primed, fused, armed or otherwise prepared for use and used in an armed conflict and should
have exploded but failed to do so) and abandoned explosive ordnance; whereas anti-personnel land-
mines (APL) are mines primarily designed to be exploded by the presence, proximity or contact of a
person and are banned under the Ottawa Convention,

B.

reaffirming the need to strengthen international humanitarian law (IHL) as it applies to cluster muni-
tions and for new protocols restricting the use of cluster munitions and anti-vehicle mines to be estab-
lished by the Group of Governmental Experts (GGE) under the Convention on Certain Conventional
Weapons (CCW),

C. whereas the term ‘cluster munitions’ refers to weapons systems that are both dropped from the air and

launched from the ground,

(1) OJ C 43 E, 19.2.2004, p. 361.
(2) OJ C 177 E, 25.7.2002, p. 309.
(3) OJ C 72 E, 21.3.2002, p. 352.

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D. whereas cluster munitions have a high failure rate, often not exploding on impact, remaining a danger
to communities long after a conflict has ended, and many types of cluster munitions and anti-vehicle
mines are equipped with sensitive fuses which react to less physical contact than anti-personnel mines,

E. whereas cluster munitions are highly inaccurate, are often used in large numbers and cover a wide area

after dispersal, producing large amounts of ERW,

F.

noting with concern the grave humanitarian consequences of unexploded submunitions, including anti-
vehicle mines, for vulnerable communities and humanitarian aid workers, and the high rates of fatalities
and injuries, especially amongst children, who are attracted by the small size and the colours of these
weapons,

G. whereas all types of anti-handling devices target humanitarian mine clearance personnel,

H. whereas unexploded cluster munitions have a detrimental effect on development as a whole, with the
threat of unexploded ordnance denying access to roads and preventing agricultural land from being
used, hampering local trade and communications and affecting food security, and can obstruct the
delivery of humanitarian assistance,

I. whereas the countries known to have been affected by cluster munitions include some of the world's
poorest, such as Afghanistan, Cambodia, Chad, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Laos, Sudan and Vietnam, while cluster
munitions have also been used in the Falklands/Malvinas conflict, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina,
Iraq, Kuwait, Lebanon, Russia (Chechnya), Saudi Arabia and Serbia and Montenegro (including Kosovo),

J. whereas it is estimated that 78 countries still have some 400 million anti-personnel mines and anti-
vehicle mines stockpiled, and between 15 000 and 20 000 people fall victim to mines every year, and
whereas there is evidence that cluster munitions are stockpiled in over 15 Member States and are
produced in at least 10 Member States,

K.

deploring the large amount of cluster munitions used by the coalition forces in the wars in Afghanistan
and Iraq,

1.
Calls for an immediate moratorium on the use, stockpiling, production, transfer or export of cluster
munitions, including air-dropped cluster munitions and submunitions delivered by missiles, rockets, and
artillery projectiles, until an international agreement has been negotiated on the regulation, restriction or
banning of these weapons;

2.
Urges all states not party to Protocol V on ERW and the Ottawa Convention on APL to sign and ratify
both and to abide by their spirit in the interim period, and urges the Presidency of the Council and the
Member States to support a mandate to negotiate a new protocol to the United Nations Convention on
Certain Conventional Weapons that tackles all humanitarian problems associated with the use of cluster
munitions;

3.
Calls on all those who use cluster munitions and comparable weapons that produce explosive rem-
nants of war to accept responsibility for clearance of these munitions, and in particular to keep accurate
records of where such munitions have been used in order to help clearance efforts following conflict;
considers that such records should be used to provide clear warnings of dangerous areas to local popu-
lations and humanitarian aid workers in line with Protocol V on ERW;

4.
Urges all states to sign and ratify the Ottawa Convention and urges all Member States and parties to
the Ottawa Convention to insist that any mine which is likely to be detonated by the presence, proximity or
contact of a person is an antipersonnel mine prohibited by the Convention; notes that, specifically, this
means that tripwires, breakwires, tilt-rods, low-pressure fuses, anti-handling devices and similar fuses are
prohibited for States Party to the Convention;

5.
Insists that under no circumstances or conditions should EU troops make use of any type of cluster
munitions until such time as an international agreement on the regulation, restriction or banning of these
weapons has been negotiated;

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Underlines the responsibility of a state in control of territory to provide warnings, and take measures
including through the education of children, and provide special

the civilian population,

6.
to protect
information on assisting victims of ERW;

Requests the Member States immediately to take measures to ensure that anti-vehicle mines which are
7.
likely to be detonated by the presence, proximity or contact of a person must be destroyed in accordance
with the provisions of the Ottawa Convention;

Calls on all Member States which have used cluster munitions to provide assistance to the populations
8.
affected; calls also on the Commission to increase financial assistance to communities and individuals
affected by unexploded cluster munitions through all available instruments;

9.
Calls on the relevant committees closely to monitor and participate in CCW meetings, to report on
Member State initiatives on cluster munitions and related weapons, and to report on other international
measures concerning such weapons;

10.
Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the High Represen-
tative for CFSP, the governments and parliaments of the Member States, the Secretary-General of the UN,
the President of the USA and the US Congress.

P6_TA(2004)0049

Iran

The European Parliament,

European Parliament resolution on Iran

— having regard to its previous resolutions on Iran and its decision of 10 March 2004 (1) to set up an

interparliamentary delegation with Iran,

— having regard to the report submitted by the Special Rapporteur on the right to freedom of opinion
and expression, Ambeyi Ligabo, to the UN Commission on Human Rights on 12 January 2004,

— having regard to the EU-Iran dialogue on human rights and most particularly the fourth round of the
dialogue, which took place on 14 and 15 June 2004 in Tehran, where the Government of
Iran
expressed its commitment to strengthening respect for human rights and the rule of law,

— having regard to the EU Guidelines on human rights dialogues,

— having regard to the statement made by the Council Presidency on Iran of 18 July 2004,

— subscribing to the conclusions of the General Affairs and External Relations Council of 11 October

2004 (2),

— having regard to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the UN Convention on the

Rights of the Child, to which Iran is a State Party,

— having regard to the fact that Iran is still not a party to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms
of Discrimination against Women and that the new parliament has rejected draft legislation on gender
equality,

— having regard to Rule 115(5) of its Rules of Procedure,

A. whereas the situation in Iran with regard to the exercise of key civil rights and political freedoms has
deteriorated since the parliamentary elections of February 2004 despite commitments on the part of
the Government of Iran to promoting these universal values,

(1) Texts Adopted, P5_TA(2004)0166.
(2) 12770/04.