The anti-cluster bomb campaign gathered momentum after Israel’s month-long war against Hezbollah in 2006, when it scattered up to 4 million bomblets across Lebanon, UN figures show.
“In southern Lebanon, for more than two years, children and the elderly have been victimized [by cluster munitions],” Lebanese Foreign Minister Fawzi Saloukh said.
Activists hoped the treaty would pressure non-signers into shelving the weapons, as many did with land mines after a 1997 treaty banning them.
“The cluster bomb treaty will save countless lives by stigmatizing a weapon that kills civilians even after the fighting ends,” said Steve Goose, arms director of Human Rights Watch.
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