wfn.org | WCC NEWS: Cluster munitions: more states should join agreement, say churches

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World Council of Churches - News Release

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>For immediate release - 29/05/2008 14:26:38

CHURCHES APPLAUD CLUSTER MUNITIONS AGREEMENT, EXPECT MORE STATES TO JOIN

"Churches around the world are much encouraged" by the multilateral  agreement on cluster munitions reached Wednesday in Dublin, and now look  with expectation to "powerful governments that have not been at the  negotiating table", said World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary  Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia in a comment on the agreement today.

Full text of WCC general secretary's comment follows:

Comment on the cluster munitions agreement reached in Dublin, 28 May 2008

Churches around the world are much encouraged by the fact that 110  governments have been able to agree on how cluster munitions can be  banned. Just three months ago the World Council of Churches central  committee affirmed ( http://www.oikoumene.org/en/news/news-management/eng/a /article/1722/wcc-says-a-proposed-new-t.html )this joint endeavor with  civil society and now the terms of a solid treaty are already on the  table.

In conflict areas, assistance is one step closer for civilians who have  been maimed by these indiscriminate weapons and for people who must live  where cluster bombs have been used. A cluster bomb ban will save lives in  future as well.

We also applaud the fact that the meeting in Dublin was part of a  multilateral plan to tackle a difficult disarmament issue. Success now  raises international expectations of powerful governments that have not  been at the negotiating table. A broad consensus is emerging around a  higher standard of behavior very much in keeping with the rule of law. We  look forward to even more states signing the new Cluster Munitions  Convention when it opens for signature in Oslo later this year.

There is a biblical promise in the book of Isaiah that people shall not  "learn war" any more, as the WCC statement last February noted. The  banning of cluster bombs would be an excellent example of unlearning one  type of warfare in our day.

>Rev. Dr. Samuel Kobia
>General Secretary
>World Council of Churches

Additional information:Juan Michel,+41 22 791 6153 +41 79 507 6363media@wcc -coe.org

The World Council of Churches promotes Christian unity in faith, witness  and service for a just and peaceful world. An ecumenical fellowship of  churches founded in 1948, today the WCC brings together 349 Protestant,  Orthodox, Anglican and other churches representing more than 560 million  Christians in over 110 countries, and works cooperatively with the Roman  Catholic Church. The WCC general secretary is Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia, from  the Methodist Church in Kenya. Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland.