Wiebe attends cluster bomb conference
Law Professor Virgil Wiebe attends international conference seeking global ban on cluster munitions
University of St. Thomas Associate Professor Virgil Wiebe will attend the Cluster Munitions Coalition Forum on Cluster Munitions in Vienna from December 4-7. This is the third international conference of the “Oslo Process” which is seeking a global ban on cluster munitions. The conference is a working conference which will continue work on key elements of the draft accord.
The Oslo Process was launched in February 2007 when 46 governments supported the Oslo Declaration to establish a legally binding instrument by 2008 to prohibit cluster munitions that cause unacceptable harm to civilians. The second international Oslo Process meeting took place in Lima, Peru where a first draft of the treaty text was discussed. There are now more than 80 countries participating in the Oslo Process including major users, producers and stockpilers of the weapons as well as affected countries. Regional conferences supporting the Oslo Process have also taken place in Cambodia, Belgium and Costa Rica and last month Serbia hosted the first conference of states affected by cluster munitions.
Wiebe has been an active participant in the efforts to curb the use of landmines and cluster bombs in armed conflicts. In April of last year he visited South Lebanon as part of the Mines Advisory Group (M.A.G.) to see the effect of cluster munitions in that country. Earlier this year Wiebe helped bring a Cluster Bomb Survivors tour to the Twin Cities. As a consultant to the Mennonite Central Committee, he has attended United Nations conferences on landmines and conventional weapons, and has addressed diplomats on international humanitarian law matters.
