Hutchison Paul: Cluster Munitions (Prohibition) Bill — First Reading 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Hutchison Paul: Cluster Munitions (Prohibition) Bill — First Reading 
[Sitting date: 28 July 2009. Volume:656;Page:5190. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
Dr PAUL HUTCHISON (National—Hunua) 
: 
 Thank you Mr Deputy Speaker for the opportunity to speak on this very sobering Cluster Munitions (Prohibition) Bill. Cluster munitions have dealt a horrific toll on many people in many countries especially over the last 30 years. 
Sitting suspended from 6 p.m. to 7.30 p.m. 
Dr PAUL HUTCHISON 
: Prior to the dinner break I was saying how excellent it is that the House is unanimous in supporting this very important and sobering bill known as the Cluster Munitions (Prohibition) Bill. It is appropriate to acknowledge the part played by the Hon Phil Goff in the proceedings leading up to this bill. I understand that prior to both the Dublin and the Oslo conventions a large international meeting was held here in Wellington and that was very useful in ensuring that the technical aspects of this bill were worked out. 
I think it is important and possibly salient to think back as far as the First World War the famous “war to end all wars” when mustard gas was used indiscriminately. One might say that undoubtedly these cluster munitions indeed have an indiscriminate effect on the population not only immediately but for many years to come. It is almost ironic to think that it was during the First World War that that famous novel  
All Quiet on the Western Front  
was written a novel that was one of the first to deglorify war as a way of sorting out humankind’s differences. It was only after that war during the Second World War that the spectre of bacterial warfare and other forms of equally horrific ways to hurt humanity arose. 
Of course the antecedents of cluster bombs occurred as far back as the Second World War. It does not say much for the evolution of our species to sort things out if this is the way that we have gone although I think we can celebrate the very fact that today Parliament is unanimously supporting this bill. It will indeed enable New Zealand’s ratification of the Cluster Munition Convention which was adopted in Dublin on 30 May 2008. The bill establishes a wide-ranging prohibition on the use of cluster munitions that cause unacceptable humanitarian harm. 
As has been pointed out these cluster munitions usually go with aircraft and there is a whole spectrum of size. I understand that they can cover up to 18 square miles of area. The whole of Wellington could be covered in a particularly indiscriminate way. But the Convention on Cluster Munitions is a new international treaty that bans the use of these munitions that cause this unacceptable harm. In addition it prohibits the development production acquisition stockpiling retention and transfer of the munitions. It requires stockpiles of the munitions to be destroyed within 8 years although there are certain exceptions and it requires State parties in a position to do so to provide international cooperation and assistance to State parties affected by these munitions. 
I think it is important to point out that on being ejected from the aircraft or the missiles they can scatter into literally hundreds of smaller bombs—sometimes the size of lemonade bottles—and create incredible damage. The International Movement of the Red Cross and the Red Crescent has called it a “persistent humanitarian problem”. Most of the cluster bombs’ bomblets are meant to explode on impact but again a credible estimation of the proportion that does not do so comes to about 30 or 40 percent—again according to the international Red Cross movement. That means unexploded bomblets lie scattered across the target area often exploding only when handled or disturbed. Again I understand that one of the widest areas of use was in Laos after the Viet Nam War and that today it is extraordinarily difficult to travel through a huge area in that country without fear of losing limb or life because of these cluster bombs. 
In early 2008 a US State Department representative called it “an absolute moral obligation” to rid a battlefield of unexploded ordnance after the battle. I note that that was one of the points that my colleague the Hon Wayne Mapp made—that in many respects this is a very important moral issue. In rebuttal the Acting Assistant Secretary for Political Military Affairs for the United States Department of State Stephen Mull said that the US was attempting to solve the problem through a disarmament body called the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons—or the CCW—which meets in Geneva and comprises major military powers and military trade producers. Unfortunately at this stage of events I understand it has not made any significant progress. He defends the United States’ position by saying that at this stage cluster munitions are regarded as an important part of its defence strategy. But undoubtedly as other speakers have mentioned these munitions were used in the 34-day war in Lebanon in 2006 where it is estimated that Israel dropped in the order of 4 million bomblets—1 million of which have probably not exploded. 
I will end by saying that New Zealand has a very strong record in terms of similar complementary legislation that it has supported. On the other hand with regard to this convention we are supporting many countries like Australia Canada the United Kingdom and many of the NATO countries but notably at this stage the United States Russia China India Pakistan and Israel have not yet signed up. Today’s bill is the start of a process that does need to be completed hopefully by the full international community signing up sooner rather than later. Thank you Mr Assistant Speaker.