International Coalition to Ban Uranium Weapons

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The International Coalition to Ban Uranium Weapons (ICBUW) is a global coalition of 92 NGO members in 25 countries. ICBUW was formed in 2003 in Berlaar, Belgium. It campaigns for a ban on the use, transport, manufacture, sale and export of all conventional weapon systems containing uranium (usually called depleted uranium weapons). It also seeks compensation for communities affected by the use of uranium weapons and the environmental remediation of such sites.[1]

Even though ICBUW believes that the use of weapons containing uranium is already illegal under International Humanitarian, Human Rights and Environmental Laws, an explicit treaty, as has been seen with chemical and biological weapons, land mines and cluster bombs, has proved the best solution for confirming their illegality. Such a treaty would not only outlaw the use of uranium weapons, but would include the prohibition of their production, the destruction of stockpiles, the decontamination of battlefields and rules on compensation for victims.[citation needed] Although ICBUW believes that the use of weapons containing uranium should already be illegal under International Humanitarian this is not the view held by Carla Del Ponte, the chief prosecutor for the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia who said in 2001 said that NATO's use of depleted uranium in former Yugoslavia could be investigated as a possible war crime.[2] Louise Arbour, Del Ponte's predecessor as chief prosecutor, had created a small, internal committee, made up of staff lawyers, to assess the allegation. Their findings, that were accepted and endorsed by Del Ponte,[3] concluded that:

There is no specific treaty ban on the use of DU projectiles. There is a developing scientific debate and concern expressed regarding the impact of the use of such projectiles and it is possible that, in future, there will be a consensus view in international legal circles that use of such projectiles violate general principles of the law applicable to use of weapons in armed conflict. No such consensus exists at present.[4]

ICBUW has prepared a draft Convention for such a ban on depleted uranium weapons.[5] ICBUW's Draft Convention contains a general and comprehensive prohibition of the development, production, transport, storage, possession, transfer and use of uranium ammunition, uranium armour-plate and of any other military use of uranium. The Convention also outlines obligations concerning the abolition of uranium weapons and the destruction of uranium weapons construction facilities. In addition it obliges states to ensure a rapid decontamination of radioactive battlefields and test ranges, emphasising the protection of, and assistance to, civilians living in these areas and obliges states to compensate the victims.[5]

In propagating a Draft Convention for a ban on uranium weapons, ICBUW is following the example of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines.[citation needed] ICBUW’s grassroots member organisations lobby at a national level, while ICBUW itself works with supranational bodies such as the European Parliament and the United Nations. Its work is supported by Euromil - the European Military Union and has received the backing of the His Holiness the Dalai Lama.[citation needed]

ICBUW also sponsors research into the effects of uranium weapons on civilian populations. Two such projects are the "Basra Epidemiological Study" and the "Iraqi Children’s Tooth Project".[6]. The former seeks to directly quantify for the first time the scale of the cancer epidemic around Basra in southern Iraq, by the careful examination of pre and post 1991 cancer records.[citation needed]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Staff. About ICBUW on the website of The International Coalition to Ban Uranium Weapons (Claims to date not independently verified)
  2. ^ The Associated Press & Reuters contributed to this report: Use of DU weapons could be war crime CNN January 14, 2001
  3. ^ Joe Sills et al Environmental Crimes in Military Actions and the International Criminal Court (ICC)-United Nations Perspectives (PDF) (HTML) of American Council for the UN University, April 2002. Page 28
  4. ^ The Final Report to the Prosecutor by the Committee Established to Review the NATO Bombing Campaign Against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia: Use of Depleted Uranium Projectiles
  5. ^ a b Staff. Draft Convention on the prohibition of development, production, stockpiling, transfer and use of uranium weapons and on their destruction on the website of ICBUW
  6. ^ Current Research on the website of ICBUW