Virgil Wiebe sees progress in cluster bomb work

University of St. Thomas School of Law Associate Professor Virgil Wiebe returned from the Dublin Diplomatic Conference on Cluster Munitions in Dublin, Ireland with promising news.  The 110 countries negotiating at the conference were able to draft a new treaty banning cluster bombs.   As a result of the treaty, the majority of the world's stockpilers, producers, and past users of cluster bombs have agreed, without exception, to a categorical ban on the use of the weapons. Participating countries have until December to sign and ratify the treaty. 

The conference was the fourth and final in a series of conferences entitled the Oslo Process or the Oslo Conference on Cluster Munitions (OCCM), whose goal was to internationally ban cluster bombs, a wartime weapon that has traditionally been most devastating to innocent civilian populations. Noticeably absent from the conference were some of the traditional international powerhouses like the United States, Russia, India, Pakistan and Israel. Professor Wiebe, however, still expressed great delight at the conference's outcome.  "It's outstanding that we've got this treaty. Some naysayers have said that not having the U.S. or some of the other countries at the conference leaves huge holes in the treaty, but the point is to put a stigma on the weapon and push countries like the U.S. to revise their policy and make domestic legislation regarding cluster bombs," Wiebe said.

Wiebe has been an active participant in the efforts to curb the use of landmines and cluster bombs in armed conflicts since his law school days at N.Y.U.  In 2003, he co-founded the Cluster Munitions Coalition a network of NGOs, faith-based groups, and professional organizations.In April of last year, Professor Wiebe 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.  

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