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Britain outlaws cluster bombs

Original Source: http://www.abc.net.aut
Original Publication Date: March 26, 2010

Banned by the UK: A cluster bomb sits on a bomb-trolley (AFP: Russell Boyce/Pool)

Britain is banning the use of cluster bombs by its armed forces, and has undertaken the destruction of its entire stockpile.

All of Britain’s major political parties agreed the armed forces should be banned from using cluster bombs because of their horrific impact – often long after a conflict has ended.

The munitions throw out dozens and sometimes even hundreds of tiny bombs over a wide area.

Often they are not detonated until people, including children, pick them up.

The government says a third of the victims are thought to be children.

The new law commits Britain to destroy its entire stockpile.

So far more than a third of its cluster munitions have been destroyed.

The United States, Russia, China, Pakistan and Israel are refusing to join the ban.

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