The Artists for Peace Exhibition concludes, raising $36,677 for MAPW and cluster bomb survivors in Lebanon.

In Dublin between 19 May and 28 May, 110 governments negotiated a new international treaty, the Convention on Cluster Munitions, that will ban cluster munitions that “cause unacceptable harm to civilians”. The treaty bans all the cluster munitions that have been extensively used. This article by Dr Mark Zirnsak, National Coordinator for the Australian Network to Ban Landmines, analyses the outcome, and the Australian government's role.

An international treaty to ban cluster bombs will be negotiated in Dublin on 19 – 30 May 2008. Australia is among a group of countries seeking to "water down" this important treaty in several significant ways. This Uniting Church resource is to assist people to write to the government urging support for the full treaty. It contains further details on the process, suggested points for a letter, and the relevant addresses.

 A list of websites with further information on cluster bombs

Media Release

Thurs May 31, 2007.

MAPW deplores the recommendation of the Senate Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade not to support a ban on cluster munitions, adding that the this flies in the face of growing international concern of the terrible humanitarian costs of these weapons.

This 2007 MAPW report was written by MAPW doctors Hadia Mukhtar and Sue Wareham, with Phillip Salem from Australians for Lebanon. It documents the terrible legacy of cluster bombs in southern Lebanon as a result of the 2006 war, and makes recommendations for Australian action both to assist the survivors, and to prevent the use of these weapons in the future.