Bill to ratify cluster bomb treaty flawed, Dallaire says
OTTAWA — Controversial legislation that will commit Canada to an international treaty banning deadly cluster munitions is flawed and puts members of Canada’s military in a “horrific moral and ethical dilemma” former army general Sen. Romeo Dallaire said Thursday. Bill S-10 passed unchanged t hrough t he Conservative - controlled Senate Wednesday but Dallaire and other critics say the legislation is compromised and against the spirit of the treaty that Canada helped negotiate and signed four years ago this month.
At issue is a clause that will allow Canadian forces on joint operations commanded by foreign forces to use clusters if commanders are from a country that has not signed the treaty.
Because Canada’s major allies — notably France and the United Kingdom — have ratified the treaty with a pledge not to use clusters in any circumstances, the clause insisted upon by the federal government is included to effectively protect Canadian troops from prosecution during joint military operations with the United States.
The U.S. refuses to sign the treaty which, once ratified, is binding under international law.
Cluster weapons, the deadlier, more versatile cousin of landmines, can be dropped by aircraft or fired from the ground. They scatter small coloured bomblets that have a high failure rate on impact but remain deadly. The majority of cluster victims are civilians, mostly kids.
Canada has neither produced nor used cluster munitions.
Dallaire, who with fellow Sen. Elizabeth Hubley had attempted to get amendments to the bill, said its passage unchanged is “a great disappointment.”
“We have not met the spirit of the convention,” he said.
“We are protecting our people legally, and that’s no doubt important, but it doesn’t protect against the ethical and moral dilemma of using them and seeing the horrific impact once you’ve used them.”
Dallaire had attempted to persuade Conservative senators to get around the so-called interoperability issue by introducing an opt-out clause for Canadians under foreign command.
“Caveats for the rules of engagement are used all the time when nations send troops to be part of UN forces,” he said.
Dallaire’s last-ditch effort at an amendment that would have allowed Canadians to attempt to persuade their foreign commanders not to use the weapons was also defeated.