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The Lao government will sign the Convention on Cluster Munitions on December 3 in Norway . The decision was reaffirmed at the third South East Asia Regional Conference on the Convention on Cluster Munitions hosted by Laos this week. Representatives of governments, international organisations and civil society groups from more than 10 different countries convened for three days of discussions in Xieng Khuang province from October 20-22. The conference encouraged governments and international organisations to assist with funding and support to clear unexploded ordnance (UXO) in affected areas, help UXO victims and provide UXO-related education to local communities. Laos is the most bombed country per capita in the world, and is consequently the country most affected by cluster munitions, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Defence Lt. Gen. Duangchay Phichit said at the conference. He said more than three decades after cluster munitions were dropped on Laos , those that lay unexploded in the ground had injured or killed an average of 300 people a year over the last decade. Up to 25 percent of Lao villages are affected by the presence of UXO and cluster munitions. These deadly weapons can be found in rice fields, school yards, on hillsides, in rivers, along roads and paths and even in provincial town centres, Mr Duangchay said. As well as posing a constant danger and threat to physical safety, cluster munitions contribute to greater food insecurity of already poor and often malnourished rural populations by limiting access to arable land and killing livestock. They exacerbate poverty and make development activities more expensive and adversely affect the socio-economic development of the entire country. Mr Duangchay said a 1996 nationwide survey on the impact of UXO on socio-economic development indicated 14 out of 17 provinces in the country were affected. More than 580,000 sorties were made by US airplanes during the Indochina War, dropping more than two million tonnes of bombs on Laos . In Xieng Khuang alone more than 500,000 tonnes of bombs were dropped, he said. Houses, hospitals, schools, temples, paddy fields and orchards were destroyed, livestock was killed and many people were killed or maimed. Norway has been at the forefront of efforts to push forward the Oslo Process, aimed at achieving a worldwide cluster munitions ban. The convention adopted by 107 countries in Dublin, Ireland, in May this year prohibits the use, production, transfer and stockpiling of all cluster munitions. This convention is extremely important to South East Asia because people across the region, particularly in Laos , Vietnam and Cambodia , are still living with the tragic effects of these munitions. According to the Australian Broadcasting Association, major producers and stockpilers such as the United States , the Russian Federation , the People's Republic of China , India , Israel and Pakistan did not attend convention discussions in Dublin . In the lead up to the December signing ceremony in the Norwegian capital Oslo , regional conferences will be held in Quito , Ecuador , and Beirut , Lebanon . The first conference on the Convention on Cluster Munitions was held in Sofia , Bulgaria , in September this year and second was in Kampala , Uganda , later the same month.
