The Ban Bus

In the past the Australian government has had an NGO representative on the delegation. In the last round of talks in Wellington the NGO’s decided that there was a distinct conflict of interest between the two. NGO’s have since pulled off the delegation. In the weeks leading up to the conference the government went shopping around looking for a new NGO delegate. The big problem here is if you are on the delegation then you are gagged from commenting on the proceedings. This greatly compromises any effectiveness you can achieve at a conference like this. All of the NGO’s approached turned down the government’s invitation until they came to World Vision and Australian Red Cross. They both took a seat with the government and have since been locked into their world. Now they have the problem of the official gag order. They can not comment on any of the delegations discussions and basically can not be that important bridge between NGO’s and governments. This also compromises them as they can only really engage with the government and not the NGO’s as they can discuss our NGO position to government but not discuss their position to us. This is certainly a one way street.

Doors open

As the first week of the conference unfolded it emerged that the Irish government has it at heart to have as open a process as possible. The initial exclusion of many from the proceedings has relaxed a bit and NGO’s can now enter most of the meetings as long as there is a seat for them. Governments with spare seats in their delegations have also helped by offering these seats up to the NGO’s. This has created a far more transparent and inclusive process for all and has assisted greatly in the NGO efforts to lobby governments. People can listen and see who makes what statement and more importantly get a feeling of the spirit that the statement was made in and then get meetings with the delegates outside of the conference hall.

As the week unfolded and countries true positions were revealed, the work on the text continued and developed. Some of the treaty articles have been developed extremely well while others are far more problematic. Victim assistance for instance has gone very well and the Australian Ambassador Caroline Millar has done great work in negotiating strong and practical provisions into the text.

Some of the more difficult issues regard transfer across sovereign territory and again definitions and interoperability. The developing text is getting better in some areas but still weak in others.

The interoperability text is ducking and weaving in many ways but still with loopholes well imbedded in the text. The most offending language that definitely opened specific doors in the treaty for coalition use has been slightly softened but in actual content you could still drop another load of cluster bombs through it.

On balance, the various provisions are tightening up which is isolating the problem points. This is positive. As this happens, this also flags the most problematic countries even farther. They are now feeling very exposed and whatever coalitions they had are now collapsing. The ‘Like Minded Group’ is turning in to the ‘Let me out of here group’.

Lobbying and this kind of results driven process has systematically dismantled opposition to this treaty and it feels like it’s within grasp.

The real problem countries to emerge are now Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom along with a few other first world belligerent countries.

Schmooz baby

One of the wonders of this diplomatic world is the never ending array of cocktail parties. For many nights in this two week process, one organisation or another have organised receptions in the evenings. These events I hate with a passion as it seems so many of these people are so removed from the reality of what they are actually here to negotiate about. It’s all very well to negotiate but it’s making a change that counts and a change based on field realities. The cocktail circuit, as repulsive as it is, is a great opportunity to lobby farther and the real advantage is many of them get quite well lubricated so their gums flap considerably more. Nothing like a pissed diplomat for a little “loose lips sinking ships.”

We all worked the crowd and even pretended that we liked a few of them and gathered a mass of intelligence. We even succeeded in bending a few wavering government ears and came away with a few more allies.

Hot and Cold

This is supposed to be a transparent process for both the NGO community and the media. There are of course times when privacy is essential but in general we should be seeing what is going on. From the difficult start regarding access for NGO’s, we have developed into a system of accessibility that is working reasonably well. We get as many seats as we can find on top of the few allocated to us by the conference organisers. The same more fluid situation can not be said for how the press is being treated.

They are having a terrible time in being allowed to film one thing one day then that same shot is banned the next. Anyone with a video camera is the most obvious target for a security service that would be more at home bouncing in a pub than the delicacies of a diplomatic conference. When one cameraman was filming general crowd shots a woman launched herself out of the masses and lunged in front of his camera saying in an aggressive manner that he couldn’t film this. Two hours earlier what he was doing was ok. This has been the tone from the security services to all of the media and now, in the second week of the negotiation, there is a tense stand off between them. Someone tries to film something, a security person hovers nearby then they turn this way or that and all hell breaks lose again. What they seem to be too stupid to realise is that this just paints Ireland as the host country as a bunch of hicks. The only damage will be done to them at an international level when many of the media organisations run the footage of them trying to mug the cameramen. This approach has not been extended to those who take a sound recorder and hold it to one of the TVs in the hall that has the conference running on it. They are ignored.

So, it seems that if you record the sound off the TV then that is ok. If you take still photos then that is ok. If you take notes of it all then that is ok but if you point a video camera in any direction then you become public enemy number one.

Now a host of Irish media jokes are circulating the security not knowing what sound recorders are and that they would never know what a note book was for as they couldn’t read one any way. It’s tit for tat. The security pushes the media and then they just push back. The only thing is that media has the ears and eyes of the world and the security doesn’t so who do you think will win this pissing match.

Day eight

The meeting has almost run its course and the final 72 hours is ahead. Day 7 ended with a long night and the president of the conference working incredibly hard to have a final text on the table by the morning. The president of the conference is called Daithi O’Ceallaigh and he has done a stunning job to try and balance all the relevant arguments and agendas to come up with a treaty that will be strong but also acceptable. No point in a weak treaty but also no point in a treaty so strong that no one will sign onto. It’s quite a tight rope act for him.

The way this all works is that there is the mass meeting that is the Committee of the Whole or as Eva calls it, the ‘COW’. This then breaks up into various working groups that take one article each and try and create text that will be workable and acceptable. The chairs of each of these working groups then digests what is said and slowly writes what will be the wording of the final treaty article. It’s reviewed then when most seem happy, or as happy as diplomats get, it’s submitted back to the president for him to turn into the president’s text. This is the treaty.

On Tuesday night, the end of day 7, the president took all work on all articles and said he would present a final text of the proposed treaty the next day. This is the moment when you hold your breath to see if the end result is good or bad.

Each of the various chairs of the article discussion meetings listens to all views and writes a text that they feel covers the meetings views and the balance of how much support there is for one feeling or another. It’s a very difficult job. What is critical is in these meetings the balance is struck by who speaks and about what. If a few very vocal countries continue to oppose something or want something inserted then this will happen if no one speaks up in opposition. It’s not just that people need to show their opposition but that many must show it as the amount who support or oppose an idea has direct bearing on the outcome. From an NGO point of view we had to have friendly governments be prepared to weigh in on our behalf and to keep the treaty text strong.

When the president took all of this away on Tuesday night it was obvious that the morning we would be very happy or in total outrage. The text he presents in the morning can be sent back to the drawing board to be re worked but there is also a lot of pressure to push through what has happened over the negotiating period.
The night came and went and Wednesday morning was a buzz in anticipation. The rumour mill was running at full speed and the appointed hour for the text was 10 am.

The Like Minded

The Like Minded group has been a loose coalition of wealthy states who want either a weak treaty or no treaty at all. They have largely been led by the delegation from Great Britain. The British ambassador takes bombast and superciliousness to new heights and he has the tone of that snobbish upper crust that gets under my skin at first syllable. It seemed like a return to the days of Empire and colony as Australia and Canada drew close to him. I though we were a reasonably self assured nation but obviously not as we were now drawn close to Downing Street for directions.

The tone from the British was one of arrogant self assuredness that knew they could bully and badger others to fall into line behind their views. They were the most outspoken in the meetings on interoperability, definitions and transition periods. They seemed prepared to wage these fight as long as a few others would fall in line behind them to lend credibility to their arguments.

Australia, Holland, Germany, Canada, Denmark and a few others were all here to erode what was to be a great and strong treaty. Their solidarity seemed a real problem for the possibility of a strong and effective treaty emerging. On the morning of May 22 The Times in London ran a front page story that the UK was reconsidering their position on cluster bombs. Gordon Brown had ordered the military to go back and have a rethink about their continued use. This sent shock waves through the conference and the so called ‘Like Minded’ group began to collapse. With the number one ally changing position then the whole argument began to fall apart.

Panicked conversations could be overheard in the hall ways as they all rang home for further instructions. The crack between them grew and grew till it became obvious that the UK back flip would have major implications.

It seems the change of position came due to direct pressure on Gordon Brown from the voting British public. The Labour Party in Britain is at an all time low in the opinion polls and Brown is not the preferred Prime Minister. Pygmies from the Amazon basin would poll higher than him at present and the general public is more than 95% in favour of a ban on cluster bombs. At this point if he went against the will of the people then he would bang a few more nails in his political coffin. It was a staggering example of the will of the people overthrowing the agenda of a government. Who said you have no power against the big end of town?

This put the ‘Like Minded’ group into a tail spin as they called home for more directions. The wall was beginning to tumble on down. It was like watching one of those game shows where they give the contestant three choices, call a friend, ask the audience or go 50/50.

The Treaty

The pressure was on as the first two days of week two came and went and the president was about to present the text so far. I feel he sensed the turmoil and made use of it by presenting a strong draft treaty. He can’t just make it up as it’s all a consultative process but what did hit the tables at 10 am on Wednesday was 95% fantastic.

Most of the treaty was never going to be controversial but the few sections that could be bad could undermine the whole thing. They were Transition periods, Definitions and Interoperability.

There were no transition periods. You sign on 100% or you don’t, up to you. You can not decide a weapon system is bad then argue that you will need it for a few more years just in case you want to use it. This was excellent news.

The actually definition of a cluster bomb was very good and would eliminate all types that have ever been used to date. There were a few things we would have rather not been in the definitions but in all it was a broad, field based, catch all definition.

The section for those injured by cluster bombs was exceptional and rose above any existing treaty to date. This was probably the single most important treaty for victims of war ever negotiated.

This left interoperability and the really bad wording was gone but the replacement text was not 100% at all. This was our last true concern. It took away the wording that directly allowed inducement and assistance but it negated the primacy of article 1 which set out the aims. This was not good.

There was a mad dash for copies of the treaty and NGO’s and governments alike scrambled to their respective corners to paw over it with a fine tooth comb. A treaty is a large document of legal speak and every word needs to be weighed to make sure as to which has primacy over what etc. Normally this would take a few days at least but we only had a few hours. The president was going to reconvene in the afternoon.

As we huddled in our various corners dissecting the text we were amazed at how strong the draft of this treaty was. I can only describe it as brave and ambitious. One article after the next was read, reread, then approved. If this actually gets up then this treaty will make a real difference for the conduct of future wars. The definition of a cluster bomb was ok and there were to be no transition periods. Victim assistance was excellent and stockpile destruction periods realistic. Article after article was all good till we were almost at the end and there was article 21. This article is a qualifier for the issue of interoperability.

Its amazing how the subtlest word can change a document and here was the catch. Paragraph one and two were ok but paragraph three was an escape clause for coalition operations.

Article 21.
Relations with States not party to this Convention
1. Each State Party shall encourage States not party to this Convention to ratify, accept, approve or accede to this Convention, with the goal of attracting the adherence of all States to this Convention.
2. Each State Party shall notify the governments of all States not party to this Convention, referred to in paragraph 3 of this Article, of its obligations under this
Convention, shall promote the norms it establishes and shall make its best efforts to discourage States not party to this Convention from using cluster munitions.
3. Notwithstanding the provisions of Article 1 of this Convention and in accordance with international law, States Parties, their military personnel or nationals, may engage in military cooperation and operations with States not party to this Convention that might engage in activities prohibited to a State Party.
4. Nothing in paragraph 3 of this Article shall authorise a State Party: (a) To develop, produce or otherwise acquire cluster munitions; (b) To itself stockpile or transfer cluster munition

Notwithstanding. What a word. It is a loophole word and allows all of the requirements of Article 1 to be broken in regards to coalition operations. There was the escape clause for the difficult countries but to be realistic, the UK and others like them would never sign this without such a clause.

Now all were faced with the dilemma of do you agree to a text with such a clause or trash the draft text and head back to the drawing board. At this point the decision is largely in the hands of the governments. Can they wear it or not. Many do look to the NGO’s for approval but the final call is theirs.

The few hours ticked by and we talked to friendly governments about the options of accepting this wording or trashing it. Reluctantly it was decided not to throw the baby out with the bath water and accept the treaty. A strong statement must be made in opposition to Article 21 but acceptance of the over all treaty was important.

1300 hrs

Wednesday at one and the conference reconvened. The floor was open for comments and we braced for the barrage of for or against. One by one the countries who wanted to make their statements did and one by one they agreed with the draft text. It was going to pass though unopposed. We even heard that the Japanese would sign as would most of the others. The participating countries finished their statements and the meeting closed till Friday for the closing ceremony.

On Friday the room was packed and the press were allowed to film inside. Comment after comment was made and all talked of the idea of compromise. No one got 100% of what they wanted but all were prepared to accept the strength of the whole for a treaty that needed to exist.

As the governments finished their statements the floor was passed to Steve Goose on behalf of us. As usual, Steve made an accurate and astute statement that boiled the treaty down to its reality. It was good, it was acceptable and it was going to work, it was a compromise. When he came to comment on article 21 he called it ‘a stain on an otherwise perfect treaty’.

The conference adjourned and the world took a small step into a slightly safer future. History was being made.

The end came short and fast and all were struck dumb by the lack of opposition. As we filed into the halls there was a sense of anti climax for many as this was the end of the road for many who had fought for this moment for so long. When you are keyed up to fight fight fight and then your opponents says ‘ok, I agree’, it’s a shock and one that takes time to sink in. There was much back slapping and hugs and we handed out a commemorative poster to all delegates.

I sat for awhile to the side and watched diplomats exit and it was interesting to sum up the ones I had got to know over the past two weeks. Most were career diplomats who were grey people with grey personalities who take the dollars and do the bidding of their governments. Then there were the others. Those who made a real difference in this negotiation process and had eloquent interventions that brought the whole process back to the human catastrophe we were there to address. The Lebanese diplomat walked out and he was one of those as was Don McKay, the New Zealand ambassador followed then by my personal hero in this process, the Norwegian ambassador Stefan Kongstad. If it wasn’t for him pushing this forward over many years then we never would have arrived here today.

There was now just clearing up. Break down the exhibitions, get rid of the Ban Bus back to the hire company and have a bloody good blow out of a party.

We all converged on a private bar and instantly cut loose. These people are some of the most inspiring you could ever hope to meet and together we made history. Along with all the campaigners from the far flung corners of the globe were a few government people who were the good guys in our eyes. All were welcome and all were making a dint in the Guinness barrel. Out from the bar comes Earl the Canadian. We grin at each other both knowing each had fought a hard fight. “To you my friend” he says. “And you mate” as I raise my glass to him. The work and political manoeuvring was now behind us. Tonight was to be a night of dancing, partying and a huge hangover for the morning. All were to be justly fulfilled and that was the treaty in the bag.

Natalie who is the CMC press queen keeps sending out films posted on Youtube. She says this one is a REALLY STRONG edit, based on the ban advocates and their involvement in the campaign. You can read more about the Ban advocates here. There is also a link to their website on the right sidebar.

Here is her first release:

The Ban Bus will soon post the Ban Bus film, we promise it will be great!

Tragically we needed to make an early start to Dublin. It wasn’t that we had some massive hangover after the night’s festivities but that we stayed in a good hotel with a nice bad and bathroom but with a disco just the floor below.

It kicked into gear reasonably enough then gradually increased the volume till dooof dooof dooof was seeping through the floor boards at mega decibels. Mette and me could actually barely talk to each other in our room with the noise that blasted up from below. It went on and on and on and on a bit more till finally at 1 am it stopped. We were so tired. The night before was a bad nights sleep and now we were really getting trashed. When the music finally stopped I was so tired I couldn’t sleep till 4.30 am, up at 6.

We got in the Ban Bus and headed to Dublin. It would be at least a 4 hour drive there and we didn’t want to be breaking any speed records to be there by mid day. All of the campaigners were at a hotel having their final preparatory briefing and we wanted to roll into town when they finished and give them a rev up and call to arms.

A Sunday morning drive across Ireland early in the morning is quite nice thing to do. The traffic wasn’t there and the light was nice so we stopped at the odd spot for a little filming. The video is a really important product for so many reasons from supply to the media to You Tube and other communication products. Raechel has done an exceptional job in chronicling the odyssey of the Ban Bus and now will move into a broader film role for the conference. David also has been running about getting great background footage for the Dateline feature.

The miles rolled on by and I wrote as Mette drove. As we got closer to Dublin it was with mixed feelings that we felt that this chapter was closing as the next one was to open. Road trips should end at a great destination. This road trip will end at a treaty.

We circuited Dublin in a manic one way system and were called by Rae that the meeting was breaking up. As we turned the corner in Abbey Street off O’Connell we were faced with a mass of people flooded across the road. The Ban Bus had arrived. All of the campaigners from all around the world were there to greet it and it was an amazing feeling to finally park and step out to the cheering. Many faces from many corners of the globe had come and this was to be a call to arms for the weeks ahead. We climbed to the roof of the Ban Bus and gave the last talk to a crowd about unity and strength of action to make the treaty a reality. Finally we broke up and all headed in their different directions till the next days battle begins.

We headed for home and weren’t we tired. A beer or two and a night off were so needed. Mette went off to get the last of our gear out of our first apartment with Rae and Kevin and me had a talk and meal. We met another friend from the steering committee and our worst fears were starting to come true. The ugly shadow of censorship was starting to descend over the conference. The governments want it behind closed doors so they can literally get away with murder. The problem of access is again being put on the NGO’s. I concede that the facility is not huge but only a hand full of places have been allowed to the CMC. The CMC has basically instigated and driven this process and now most participants can not attend. It is the same situation for governments with the limited space but any member of a government delegation can enter and talk with other delegates. This access is denied to us so we must trawl the corridors looking for people to lobby.

The opening ceremony was short and sweet and the work of the conference got underway quickly. The NGO’s lined the corridors with a handful inside. The corridors are actually where most of the real work takes place but instead of being able to ask people out for a talk we have to patrol the halls and grab them as they come out for coffee. This makes getting hold of the right people in a timely way very difficult.

The Australians came out and we got into a conversation quickly. The temperature rose between us as we ended up in a passionate and heated discussion about their new sensor fused weapon system and the issue of interoperability. The military representative just reeled out the same old tired bombast as I’ve heard time and time again which basically culminated in a good dose of regional paranoia and desire to support America in any conflict they might enter. This doesn’t make an argument about continued use but it does show that they are not here with any intent to create a strong treaty. All that really came up was them wanting one exception after the next.

One of the young aggressive pups from the Australian delegation tried a little loud talk bullying to no avail as he tried to weigh in on the side of the military. The military spat statistics and model numbers to try and pontificate himself ahead of the others and it all became a little clutching at straws. It really showed their weakness as they were completely disinterested in engaging on any of the problematic issues in a constructive way.

The issue of Interoperability is a storm in a tea cup as there are many ways to deal with this issue in the treaty or in national legislation. The treaty text that is being circulated at the moment basically adds wording that would allow open assistance with another country that wants to use cluster bombs. The lawyers say it’s to protect their troops in joint operations from legal liability if their partners use cluster bombs. If this were so then the text should have an intent and wording like ‘knowingly and unintentional’ to demonstrate that they would not wilfully assist in the use of cluster bombs. This kind of wording is not what is being discussed though. What is being discussed is text that allows active support of a cluster bomb using country to continue their use. It allows inducement and assistance. That is not the kind of wording that protects soldiers from being caught up in someone else’s cluster bomb strike. It even covers ‘training’ so how can that be an accidental act?

To be really accurate lets look at the offending text.

“a State Party may,
a. Host states not party to the convention which engage in activities described in Article1.
b. Participate in planning or execution of operations, exercises or other military and related logistic activities by that State Party, its armed forces or individual nationals, conducted in combination with armed forces of States not parties to this Convention which engage in activities described in Article 1.”

It this text actually manages to go into the treaty then it will have a massive loop hole that will bring the shadow of more cluster bomb strikes to future wars.

One issue I wonder if supporting countries have though about is the concept of ‘collateral damage’. That basically means you have killed civilians. This is not a hypothetical but has so many instances in fact that it’s impossible to ignore.

In 1999 during the war in Kosovo NATO cluster bombed a so called target in a town called Nis in Serbia. They missed their target and dropped their cluster bombs into the suburbs. Many civilian people were killed and injured by this action. NATO said it was an accident.

All of that being as it is, how would a country who assisted in this operation who is a signatory to the treaty then see its liability? If Australia assisted in such a strike and the subsequent ‘accident’ then would they be liable? Morally I say 100% yes. What do lawyers with no morals say? They would probably say that it covers them legally and allows protection of their forces from liability. I would say it will equate to more dead civilians in future conflicts. The one thing I do know is that it will not be them who will be there to clear up the mess.

The other complicated part of the treaty is in defining what a cluster bomb is. This is becoming a very technical argument and has gone in every direction so far except a positive one. Is a cluster bomb defined by numbers of munitions or explosive size or bomblet size or what. To date this debate has gone nowhere. This seems to be of key concern for the Australians and they have bought their new weapon system. I can’t even begin to guess where this discussion will end up so the rest of the negotiations will be interesting.

The new Australian system is a cluster based anti vehicle or artillery weapon. It’s a top end expensive first world bank account system so of course they want them and are happy for the third world to be again disadvantaged as they can’t compete financially. It’s back to the case of ban all weapons except what they want to keep. Many of the European countries are doing this as well.

We loaded up for the long drive to County Mayo and the beginning of the Famine Walk the next day.

The drive southwest took us through many an iconic Irish town Like Ballyshannon and Donegal till we were deep in the west country. This is a stunning part on Ireland and the Famine Walk will commemorate the suffering of so many Irish during the Famine of the 1840’s and 1850’s. This period of failed crops and land evictions was responsible for the halving of the Irish population from 8 million to 4 million people. Many died and those who didn’t tried to emigrate to America and Australia. The land lords had indeed succeeded in acquiring the land at the expense of the ordinary Irish farmer.

In the late 1840’s during the height of the famine it was said that food relief was available along this path. Many who were skeletal and barely alive walked this road in search of the food warehouse at the end. When they arrived they were turned away. The food was there but the bureaucrats refused to distribute it. As the starving tried to return the way they came, a storm blew up and many collapsed into the lake and died from the cold or just collapsed on the path and perished where they lay. This was a tragedy that was just one of the many tragedies the Irish suffered in those days.

We arrived in Westport and went in search of the house we were to use outside of town. Sarah from Galway was lending us a place that her family owned there. We found it and were unpacking when she arrived in a small panic. We had to stay somewhere else as the house was to be viewed for sale in the morning. She had an alternative though, a caravan nearby to where the walk would start from. We headed over there.

It was a rowdy night in the van with all of us and Sarah and her friend. The vision of a boarding school dormitory sprang to mind. Not the most restful sleep any of us had but it was in great company so in the morning we took a walk on the beach then headed to the town that would be the end of the walk.

We picked up Andy Story who we had met in Dublin at the start of this whole process and drove the ten miles out of town to the banks of a lake where the walk would begin. The scenery was stunning and it hid the horror of the walk from 150 years before. Imaginations would need to suffice here. The busses arrived and the lakeside filled up till there were about 300 or more people waiting for the start of the walk.

Joe Murray the organiser said a few words and handed over to the key note speakers. The first spoke of water problems and the privatisation of the Irish water system, then the second spoke of oil, profit and war. I was the final speaker and gave them a fast and aggressive view on the cluster bomb problem and what was needed to be done. The crowd were certainly roused and we headed of on the walk. We led at a quick pace and it was an incredible sight to look back and see a snake of people weaving along the banks of the lake. The walk had begun.

The whole ten miles were filled with conversations about cluster bombs and at the half way break we gave out more T-shirts to any who wanted them. A strong presence had been established and many said they would come to Dublin the next weekend and attend the public march.

We finally arrived in Louisburg and all flocked to the nearest pub. Guinness flowed by the gallon and tired feet were cooled in the stream. I was so inspired by the people I had met that I felt sad to have to leave in the morning. The night would at least be spent socialising and networking.

On Kevin Myers “Cluster bombs are evil, but banning them is pointless” in the Irish Independent, 15 May 2008.
And here is a PDF version of his article in the Irish Independent: kevin-myers

Rae’s Rant:

Opinions based on the minimum of available fact are perhaps excusable in a bar-room discussion but you are an experienced and professional journalist with the resources and responsibility to research your subject thoroughly, so your careless analysis of the cluster munitions issue was unprofessional. You began your article by raising the issue of landmines then two paragraphs later challenged your readers to name a weapon that once invented had been successfully banned. Er … landmines, actually. The 1997 treaty comprehensively banned anti-personnel mines. If you wish to check how successful it has been go to www.icbl.org/lm/2007.

The case against cluster munitions is based on two problems displayed by the weapon genre in every use since it was first widely deployed by the United States in Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam during the Vietnam war. 1. The weapon is indiscriminate - this will commonly make its use illegal under exisiting international laws. 2. The post-attack and sustained post-conflict impact on civilians is disproportionate.

Your argument is based largely on the fact that weapons work - and some certainly do. However, over more than ten years of asking, I have never heard a single credible account of cluster munitions achieving any substantial military advantage and certainly nothing which could not have been better achieved by targeted unitary weapons.

Your final paragraph shows a startling ingorance of the roots of the campaign against cluster munitions. Many of those who have fought against the weapon over the past fifteen years have been those who work in the field clearing landmines and unexploded cluster submunitions, many of them former soldiers, some of them serving soldiers - the majority know conflict very well - both as soldiers and as de-miners; please don’t lecture us on the realities - far better to ask us for the facts before sitting down to write in ignorance.

Rae McGrath
www.thebanbus.org
www.stopclustermunitions.org

A local NGO called Children in Cross Fire was sorting out presentations and logistics for us here and we called Helen and arranged to meet us at the location of our first presentation. It was an old stately home in Derry that was now a community centre. The staff of Children in Cross Fire came along with a bunch of other local folk as well as the media. Two of the newspapers photograph

Helen is another person who is a real mover and shaker. She has been very involved with community development and trying to get dialogue going through the sectarian divide. Her NGO is very community based and has representatives from all sides of the religious and political spectrum. She had a very busy schedule lined up for us from schools to public talks and a protest at an arms company.

When we arrived in Derry we were straight to the old home for our first talk. These were people who actively make a difference in the community and a place like Derry really needs those slow and gentle hands to put the past behind them. The talk is about the problem but finishes in what they can do to make the process move forward. Just as we were about to begin a car pulled up and it was Rae who had pulled so much of this project together with an old mate Kevin.

Kevin is ex British military and a bomb disposal expert. He has had a long and difficult career in some of the world’s most difficult circumstances. He also knows how bad communities are affected by cluster bombs and landmines as he was blown up by a landmine in Lebanon in 2002. He lost his left leg. Kevin has a wry sense of humour and when you ask if where he lost his leg he quips that he never lost as he knows exactly where he was blown up. No self pity here. He got over the injury, had an artificial leg fitted and got back in the field to clear more bomb and mines. He will now travel with us for the rest of the Ban Bus trip and tag team with us over various aspects of the problem.

The presentations are working out really well with me setting the overall scene then Kevin talking about the problem of clearance followed by Mette talking about training communities to survive their future in a dangerous environment. The pace is good and no one gets sleepy or bored.

This is now the team we will run with till the end. Mette, Raechel, Kevin and me. Helen from Children in Crossfire had a protest lined up for us outside of Raytheon for the evening so we headed there after a radio interview.

The Raytheon company manufactures components and guidance systems for the arms industry. We drove to an industrial estate on the edge of Derry and turned the corner and found a traffic jam blocking the road. Jim was dressed in a white suit with a home made bomb detector and had copy BLU-97’s scattered across the road. He was ‘demining’ and handing out information to all cars in his peak hour traffic jam.

We drove the Ban Bus onto the pavement and got in amongst it. One of our signs said honk for a ban and many cars responded. Anyone who walked by or had their windows open was given more information and T-shirts. In general we got great responses. We handed out a few hundred leaflets, badges, stickers and T-shirts till the rush hour was waning then headed for a local playground for a picnic with the local campaigners.

Derry has a long history of activism and these people had kept a solid presence up outside Raytheon for over eight years. The general support has been good in Derry for most forms of activism from civil society but there are moves behind the shadows that could drop the Raytheon 9 in Prison for 5 years.

Their siege and trashing of Raytheon ended in arrest and now the trial begins next week. The location has been moved from Derry to Belfast as the prosecution feels there is too much support in Derry for them. When they were arrested the police also invoked the Terrorism act. This is a really serious situation as it meant their arrest became a secret and the press couldn’t report on it. The next set of powers exercised by the state was to convene a trial without a jury. All of these powers are due to the Terrorism act. The only win the defendants have had is a reinstatement of a trial by jury. At least they will be heard in front of their ‘peers’.

The following morning we hit the road early for a series of school visits. The kids are an open book and keen for knowledge. The overriding feeling from them was the unfairness of any use of cluster bombs. It’s good to get the kids motivated but a little bribery goes along way too.

A talk like ours is quite intimidating for them so when we opened the room for questions, there was a stone silence. Ok, T-shirts, who wants to get a T-shirt for a good question? The hands shot up and a barrage of fantastic questions flowed forth. At the end they certainly went away with a greater opinion than when they started. We rolled onto the next school.

The two schools are quite different as one was a catholic school and the next was integrated between protestant and catholic students. The sectarian divide is deep and real here so anything that bridges that gap is an important initiative. The really nice part is that the kids are the same in both schools. Kids are enquiring and keen and have a basis of justice to them. It’s the bigotries fed them by adults that mould them into one sect or another. Maybe a little exposure to us and our message might file away the point of fairness for all.

That night we were to meet up with Eammon McCann again for a public talk at a bar in town. Santino’s is a popular meeting place amongst many activists with a social conscience. The upstairs bar was handed over to us and it filled quickly. Eammon set the scene and talked about his trial that would begin next week. He was as motivating as before and was also able to accept the fact that in a few weeks he may be jailed for up to five years. He was totally unrepentant for his actions too and I feel he would storm Raytheon again given half the chance.

He passed the floor to me and I definitely felt inspired by him and launched into one of the most aggressive and passionate talks that I’d delivered for along time. People’s faces were contorted by the facts and some cried. I passed to Kevin and then to Mette and together we built the full story then adjourned for a beer. Tomorrow we would be moving on and although we are activists, we are not facing prison. Eammon and his friends will possibly lose their freedom in a few weeks for being the same kind of activists. To me, this would be an incarceration with a totally political agenda as the crime would out weight the act of simple vandalism which is all smashing computers in an arms manufacturer is.

We had one more call to do the following morning back to our original school as we had made quite an impact it seems. We had also picked up a video journalist from Australia who would follow the last few days of the Ban Bus and then follow the treaty negotiations.

This group of kids were a few years older and the level of understanding and questioning was excellent. Given more time we would have been able to hit so many forums and schools as the word was out and people wanted to hear what we had to say. As we headed out of town we diverted through Bogside which was the heart of the civil rights movement in Northern Ireland. This is an area that takes your breath away. The building ends have massive murals from the Troubles from the years gone by. Massive photographic quality paintings adorned the ends of the buildings. Many were copied form famous photographs from that time and there was a distinct feeling of familiarly with them.

I was talked out and very tired and Mette rolled on down the road towards Belfast. It was late and we all just wanted a bed for the night. I found myself feeling quite strange as Belfast drew nearer. I had done a little time there during the troubles in either 1989 or 1990, I can’t remember. It was very tense and wet and grey and intimidating. Then, I felt that what ever I did I was going to get hurt. Sectarianism and the violence that surrounds it is a very volatile situation. You just don’t know who is who and what is really going on. I was also 20 years younger then and walking across the cracks of society was not as instinctive as it is now.

It was leading up to Christmas and there was random violence that was basically aimed at destabilising the Christmas period. A few shop bombings accompanied by the usual knee cappings and killing was the norm then. On top of this were British army patrols that were primed to explode at anything that went out of the ordinary. I was basically wandering the streets following the sounds of sirens to get the odd shot of any aftermaths from this violence.

An old friend in Australia came from a strong Republican family and many of his relatives and brothers were in jail. He wanted nothing to do with any of this and got out and headed for a new life in Australia. Although he was well out of what was going on he was still well connected.

I contacted him before I came over and told him what I wanted to do and asked if he could connect me. His answer was short and to the point.

“They are all fuckin mad over there, stay away from it. It will only do you no good.”

As I was still keen he finally agreed to connect me with some people who could maybe get me approved to shoot some photos in the Republican areas. I had the numbers to call in my pocket and made the calls. I was heavily grilled on the phone and asked to call back in a few hours. I did and they agreed to see me. A pub in Falls Road was chosen and I arrived early. No need to say how they would recognise me as I just didn’t fit in here at all.

I walked to the bar and ordered a Guinness and no sooner had the bar tender walked away when I was picked up by my head and dragged with feet off the ground by someone. I was choking and gagging as he flung me against the wall.

“Who the fuck are you and what the fuck are you doing here?”

I babbled at full speed as someone made some phone calls. Finally the pressure eased a bit and the gorilla who had me pinned against the wall loosened his grip a bit.

“Ok, Sean is coming but if you film this, I’ll kill you and if you do that, I’ll fucking kill you and if you do something else then we’ll smash your knees. Now get up off the ground and I’ll buy you a pint”.

Point taken and absolute fear injected into my very soul.

I wandered Belfast for awhile and shot the odd shot and got bailed up more times than I care to remember by everyone from Republicans, Loyalists, Unionists and the British Army. Finally I was bashed in the face while just walking along the street.

“Fuckin news c…t!” was screamed in my face and they walked on.

I was fast becoming sick of this place and it could all go to hell as far as I was concerned. There were other jobs to do around the world and Northern Ireland could burn in its own mire for all I cared.

It was a weird feeling to now return to a place that I had a tough time in and really had no connection with. I just felt it was a place of anger and aggression.

The drive towards Belfast became better and better with new freeways feeding us into the city. Our GPS girl was behaving nicely and giving us the proper lefts and rights till we came off the freeway and into Divis street. This was familiar territory to me but I never would have recognised an inch of it. Belfast looked great. In the nineteen year gap and the years of peace they had managed to redevelop Belfast nicely. Bright lights bathed the nightclub set as they wandered from bar to bar. Many of the big retail names were here and it looked like any other capital city.

As we drove towards our hotel we passed many a spot I remembered like the Crown pub but it all fitted into a normal city and wasn’t something from the dark side. Belfast had been reborn.

Our hotel was just past Queens University to the south of the city centre. It was only a few hundred metres from the tiny guest house I had stayed in all those years ago. We parked the Ban Bus, checked in and went to bed.

The following day I was to speak at the Stormont. This is the parliament of Northern Ireland. Luckily the talk wasn’t till one o’clock so there was time for a gentle start to the day. Getting into any parliament is a coup at any time and getting to brief MP’s is a special connection. The general assembly this wasn’t going to be but a side briefing in the media conference room was still good. Amnesty had pulled off another good connection.

It wasn’t a huge crowd by any means but we had a representative from all the main parties. They had each been sent to gain the information we had to spread then feed it back to their parties.

Like most politicians they are in the business of governance and not overly concerned with details. They take a broad view of any topic then move on. It was my job to hopefully batter them out of their complacency. I knew it was to be short so it had to be sharp. I started firing information at them in a fast an aggressive way. So far so good and as I got to talking about the victims of cluster bombs I could see it was beginning to hit a chord with them. These could be their children.

I got to the end with only one MP leaving just before the end but I’d had a good talk to him before I began so that was not too bad. The rest had some surprisingly good substantial questions then the place was empty. We wandered the back corridor’s of the Stormont and as we were waiting for Mette to take a pit stop the doors at the end opened and none other than the Reverend Ian Paisley walked with his minders. I thought this was a good time to try and button hole him for a talk about clusters.

He ambled down the corridor flanked by his minders and I got eye contact with him. His head went back down and they pressed on by. The minders had that very definite look of not now, we won’t let you to him.

In another forum you push on in but in a parliament you do have to have a little decorum. We had a little debrief with Patrick and Fionna from Amnesty International and decided that the briefing was a good success. Patrick and Fionna do a lot of this kind of political lobbying and in comparison to other presentations they felt we had done well as the MP’s had stayed engaged, interested and had asked good questions.

A couple of photos later we headed back to the hotel till the afternoons presentation was due at Queens University. Mette wanted some really good photos of the Ban Bus at the Stormont so she and Raechel headed back with it to see what they could do.

Mette is the mistress of charm and has the extraordinary ability to talk her way into anywhere anytime. Once you have left parliament and the security area you then have no right to return. This meant nothing to Mette and as usual, she talked her way past the security and before they knew it, Mette was doing laps of the roundabout and Raechel was taking photos.

Queens University is a magnificent place with dramatic gothic architecture. The day was perfect and we were hoping for a good turn out of students and activists so we set up in a lecture room. Mette and Raechel hit the streets again and started interviewing every passer by. On the side of the university they were having trouble getting people to stop and talk till they realised that something special was happening in Belfast. It was a beautiful day. The other side of the street was in full sun and they were in the shade. Why would you stand in the shade and talk if you could be in the sun? They crossed the road.

The mood instantly changed and many were quite happy to stop and chat and give their comments about cluster bombs. The Irish are in general a very friendly lot and it seems anywhere you go they are up for a chat or craic. Good craic, a good chat.

It’s a perfect piece of Vox Popli or the peoples voice.

“So Sir, what do you think about the international use of cluster bombs and do you think they should be banned?”

Why is that only we actually ask what people think? It should be the very nature of being a politician. Ask the people how they would like to be represented then act on it. A very novel idea in the so called democratic world.

As they got their interviews piece by piece I met the various students who came for the talk. These were people who would hopefully engage in the issue. There is noting more passionate than a student activist.

I was starting to feel a little like a broken record as I launched into the presentation. The most important thing is no matter how you feel you can’t wear that on your sleeve. The people who we choose to represent from cluster affected countries deserve our best job and only our best job ever. Nothing more, nothing less. The talk went well and many stayed around for a few extra words and some ideas on what they could do and how to get involved. These are the people we really need.

Belfast has been short, fast and productive but on the road we must go so we packed up and headed west again to Derry or Londonderry or umm, I know someone will get upset no matter what I say so I might as well settle for what is at the entrance, The Walled City.

It was time to head north and to talk to the people of Northern Ireland. The next week would all be about pounding the pavement up there and getting to as many groups as possible. We loaded up the Ban Bus and hit the road. The next time we would be back in Dublin will be the day before the negotiations begin.

As Dublin traffic is a constant traffic jam it was nice to be leaving in the quiet of a Sunday morning. We decided to take the scenic route north so as to not just be dashing across motor ways from point to point. For some reason our GPS gets silly when you ask it to calculate a long distance so we broke it down to town to town. It seemed so much happier. The voice coming out of it even seemed more relaxed.

The drive into the centre of Ireland was beautiful and very green. It’s so green in Ireland it’s almost luminescent. This is a colour that’s gentle on my eyes as Australia has been in drought for so long and a parched and dusty land is the norm there.

As we wound our way from the highways to the byways we started to enter areas that were recently notorious as hot spots of the troubles. Enniskillen, Omagh and ahead was Derry to some, Londonderry to others. The Good Friday agreement from ten years ago brought about a slow but precise movement towards a functional peace in Northern Ireland. There has been nothing easy about the process but it has progressed in this decade. The region is getting much safer and place names that rang with fear of sectarian violence are now becoming normal rural communities again. I always find being in a place many years after a war has ended interesting as you can really measure the progress to peace or in some cases, the lack of it.

Our first stop in the north was to Letterkenny and a series of talks organised by the local Amnesty group. The local coordinator was Mary and she didn’t just open her community to us but her home and family too. This is one of the bonuses of this project that we do get to meet some very special people. They are special because they have chosen to lead an active life that engages in public debate and is conscience based. Mary and her friends form opinions and they act on them. This is the greatest act as they participate in society. There is no apathy here.

Mary fed us a wonderful dinner and after a walk with the kids and dogs we talked about life and civil society and the challenges faced by all to build a better world. This is not idealism but people who see problems with the world and look for active ways to move it forward.

The next morning Mary had us lined up to speak at the local Irish school. These schools conduct their curriculum in the Irish language so you get both an education and a connection in a rich culture that refuses to die or be moulded into some homogeneous society. I always like talking to schools as these kids will be the movers and shakers of the future. The talk is not too hard core but it’s not soft and fluffy either. It’s simply what goes on in cluster bomb affected countries. The good and the bad are all here but what I like the most with the kids is their simple understanding of what is fair and what is not. It all boils down to basic justice issues. Is it fair to use a weapon system that by its very nature will leave a permanent dangerous legacy? They answer no in unison. Why isn’t international diplomacy based on simple human understandings like this? What is it in the process of ageing that clouds our judgements with multiple agendas?

The kids were left with a feeling of outrage at what was happening in nations affected by cluster bombs and took the information and petitions and said they would follow through on it.

We drove out of Letterkenny towards Milford and found a national park near by with a stately home and gardens in it. Glenveagh was built in the 1870’s but was built in the style of an old castle and keep. We took the short diversion to it and it was nice just to stretch the legs and walk around the beautiful gardens.

Our afternoon presentation was to be to another school in a town a few miles to the north in Milford. Again the connection was through Amnesty contacts. Finola was a teacher of business studies with a strong social conscience. She wanted to instil a strong social ethic in her students and break through that adolescent apathy that exists in most teenagers. She had lobbied with the school and other teachers to get to as many pupils as possible and three classes crammed into a small science lecture room for the talk. We are not above bribery and the offerings of badges, stickers and other information went over really well. I worked my way yet again through the issue and some stunned and shocked looks came back to me as the story unfolded. That same old feeling of injustice crept in and they were left with a desire to get involved.

We now had a few spare hours till our third presentation of the day in the parish hall that evening. Finola insisted she take us for a drive to see the northern beaches and coast road. This was a really welcome distraction as doing these presentations is quite a mental strain and after each one I feel quite drained.

The northern beach area is beautiful and it reminded me of beaches in the south east of Australia. It wasn’t a pebble beach but a long winding strip of sand with tussock sand dunes rimming it. Mette can’t go to any beach without swimming no matter how cold it is and before we knew it she was dashing into the frigid waters. Vikings! They are a hardy mob.

As we strolled along the almost deserted beach we talked global history and the actions of civil society and how a single person or community can make a difference to the big picture. A quote that always comes to my mind is ‘All that’s needed for evil to triumph is for good people to do nothing’. What we want to do is to motivate as many good people as possible.

We headed back to Letterkenny and Mary had a great dinner on the table for us, a good bit of fuel before the evenings talk to be followed by a long drive.

This talk was to the members of the local Amnesty group and anyone else interested from the town and parish. Along with the audience came two of the local priest’s. The church in Ireland is very important and they have excellent connections into all levels of Irish society. It’s amazing what contacts come out with a chat to a priest.

I started my third talk for the day and as usual, the response from the people was very strong. It was simply another group of people who were now connected to the problem and wanted to become part of the solution. A little glimpse into another window to a world I hope they never experience first hand. After the presentation we stood around and chatted to the people. A great old local character was Alphonso. He was an old civil rights and peace campaigner from way back. I’ve no idea how old he must be I feel it is definitely in his eighties. He rode his bike to the meeting and was moved by what he saw and as I finished the talking he disappeared. About a half hour later he returned and had made us a present. He had woven a kind of crown of thorns with a Celtic peace cross across the middle. It was made from spring Hawthorn and reeds. He had just dashed out, found the materials and woven it together. This was a really moving gift and it took pride of place in the van.

It was finally time to take the two or more hour drive to Belfast and start the whole process again. The Ban Bus hit the road.

A real irony was one of the points of concern from some governments. They complained that during the final day’s position statements there was clapping for countries who made good strong statements calling for a total ban. One of the most vocal to complain of this was the Canadian diplomat Earl Turcotte. He made a very strong attack on this in his closing statement and in general about NGO inclusion. Sadly he was an NGO himself before he joined government and used to be a strong supporter of the actions of civil society. How ones morals change once they join government and take the government wage packet. The irony came when we reviewed the filming from within the final meeting – here was the Canadian delegation clapping for some statements – so their complaints can only be seen as a cynical attempt to have us locked out. Oh the games and lengths that governments will go to to make sure this process stays behind closed doors.

The night the Wellington conference finished the NGO community had a get together at a local boat shed and who should turn up thinking he was still a bit of an NGO? None other than Earl. I was amazed no one tossed him in the harbour.

There is a sad cowardice from some governments that try to look like they are doing the right thing then do their damnedest to undermine a strong treaty. This seems to be particularly popular tactic from the likes of most of the problem European countries and Australia. They are often referred to as trying to look ‘good but, smell bad’.

The Australians fall within this category along with Germany, the UK and a handful of others. They call themselves ‘The Like Minded’ group and are doing a lot of work to create a strong treaty for everyone except themselves. They have a vested interest in the treaty having holes that will allow no cluster bombs, except theirs, or not to be able to use them, but allowing their military allies to use them. If these exceptions are included then the treaty will be very weak in a practical sense and the next war will be a Déjà vu of the last one.

So much of the nature of diplomacy is to have a long winded talk fest that ends in status quo. This is a common outcome from many a UN meeting. They come, they talk, they congratulate each other, they drink the free cocktails and they agree to disagree. Such is the nature of much so called diplomacy. This process must be different.

The argument about interoperability is an interesting one. The governments that want exceptions on degrees of use are trying to cloud the negotiations with a myriad of ‘but what if’s’. If a weapon system is deemed unacceptable and is banned then how can you argue for an exception of use under certain partnerships. An easy way to look at this is to replace the term ‘cluster bomb’ with terms like ‘poison gas’ or ‘torture’.

If a coalition partner country decides to torture people do we agree with them doing this? Of course not. If a coalition partner decides to use poison gas in a conflict then do we agree to this? No. So why is a treaty that’s to ban cluster bombs different? You can not decree a weapon is unacceptable then have loopholes and exceptions for use under certain conditions. The treaty must not be half cocked. It’s like being half dead or a little bit pregnant. You are either dead, pregnant or have a strong treaty. Nothing more and nothing less.

The process to create this treaty has come to be known as the Oslo Process. It’s a copy of the landmine treaty from eleven years ago and then it was known as the Ottawa Process. It’s a method of creating a treaty that is totally outside of any United Nations treaty process. The big difference lies between a process of opt in or consensus.

The United Nations treaties are treaties of consensus. This means that the world will come together at a conference to attempt to deal with an issue. They will talk about it over a week or so in very neutral and diplomatic ways and then if they all agree a treaty might emerge. The problem lies in that they all must agree. If someone doesn’t like it then all bets are off and the treaty will not go ahead. That is consensus. Unfortunately there is rarely any consensus.

The Oslo Process works differently. It’s an opt in process. The aim is to convene an international meeting and invite the world to come and talk. Over a series of meetings all the issues relating to a treaty are worked through. Finally the last meeting will be the treaty creation itself. This will normally take a few weeks of hard core legal word battling through the text that will become the final legal document. Finally a treaty will be the end result and then all nations will be encouraged to sign it. Normally it will not be open for signing till many months after the treaty text has been created. This will give all countries the chance to go back to their capital cities and digest the responsibility of the treaty.

This is the process that was created and followed in 1997 that became the Landmine Ban Treaty. It’s the same process that we are following now in the creation of this treaty. Since 1997 we went from few countries being interested in a treaty to now 156. That’s a massive success and even the few countries that have not signed are virtually not using, selling or manufacturing landmines. Now that is a success in progress.

This is what we want to do now. Fight through the process for a strong and field focused functional treaty and then work on the universalisation of it. That’s to say, educate all the countries of the world about the problem of cluster bombs and get them to sign onto the treaty. This is not an overnight way to make a treaty but it’s the best way to make a strong treaty. With a choice of this method or the UN method, this method is designed to achieve a positive outcome and actually be successful.

The coordinator of CMC has just sent around an email re the various upcoming logistics for the conference and our first fear has been realised. There will largely be an NGO lock out of the proceedings. This is a disaster for the issue of transparency as the debates will be now held out of the public eye and behind closed doors. The opening and closing ceremonies will be open and there will be a video link so the meeting of the whole can be viewed from outside but the side meetings which is where the various texts of the treaties will be thrashed out will be closed. In each meeting they will only allow four representatives of the CMC to be present. This is a victory for countries like the United Kingdom, Canada and Germany who were very uncomfortable with the physical presence of NGO’s actually being in the room and seeing how the process would unfold. They were very concerned with the transparency of the procedure in Wellington and we heard that a great deal of pressure was put on the Irish government to lock civil society out to a large degree.

This tactic was highly expected but we were hoping that the Irish government would have stood tough on such an important issue. The same pressure was put of the chairs and hosts of the previous meetings in Vienna and Wellington and those governments resisted NGO exclusion.

Are NGOs alarmed and should they now be requesting to be on their countries delegation in order to ensure civil society’s presence and a fully transparent procedure?