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100 states sign cluster-bomb ban in Oslo
Dec 3, 2008, 9:39 GMT
Oslo - Government leaders from more than 100 states signed a global ban on the use of cluster bombs on Wednesday.
The treaty, which was negotiated in Dublin in May, bans the production, use and trade of cluster munitions.
Cluster weapons - criticized for carrying a high risk of maiming or killing civilians - can be launched from the air or via artillery shells and can disperse hundreds of bomblets over a target area.
Children are often victims of the weapons since they sometimes mistake the so-called bomblets for toys.
Several non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and humanitarian groups have pushed for the ban grouped in the Cluster Munitions Coalition.
However, the world's largest producers and users of cluster bomb munitions - the US, Russia, China, Israel, India and Pakistan - are not signatories of the treaty.
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