Photo credit: Gunnar Mjaugedal/catchlight.no 

Mali ratified the Convention on Cluster Munitions (CCM) on 30 June 2010. The CCM enters into force and becomes binding international law on 1 August 2010

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Table of Contents:

* Malawi: making progress in tightening controls over firearms

* Mozambique strives to be mine-free by 2014
* Fifa 2010 Soccer World Cup in South Africa: to shoot or to score?
* Armed violence reduction, Africa's golden chance
* Armed violence continues to plague DRC amidst government call for a MONUC pull-out
* Africa takes the lead on the Convention on Cluster Munitions
* Progress on firearms and ammunition control in Southern Africa
* So far, so good
* Central Africa ushers in a convention on SALW

The governments of Chile and Norway and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) are hosting the conference, which is the biggest international gathering on the Convention since it opened for signature in Oslo in December 2008. The conference will lay the groundwork for the First Meeting of States Parties to the Convention, which Lao PDR, the most-affected country, will host from 8-12 November 2010

PHOTO: Gunnar Mjaugedal/catchlight.no

(Depositary Notification) http://treaties.un.org/doc/Publication/CN/2010/CN.317.2010-Eng.pdf

The Seychelles ratified the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 20 May 2010 at the United Nations, becoming the 34th country fully on board the treaty, which takes effect and becomes binding international law on 1 August.

The Seychelles, which has not used, produced or stockpiled cluster munitions, swiftly signed and ratified the Convention after announcing its intention to do so at an African regional conference on the Convention in Pretoria in March.

“Through its rapid action, the government of the Seychelles has echoed the urgency of joining the Convention before it enters into force,” said Thomas Nash, Coordinator of the Cluster Munition Coalition (CMC). “Other African states should take note – particularly those who signed the treaty but have not yet ratified.”

The Convention on Cluster Munitions comprehensively bans the use, production, stockpiling and transfer of cluster munitions, sets strict deadlines for clearance of contaminated land and destruction of stockpiles of the weapon, and includes groundbreaking provisions for victim assistance. Forty African states are among the 106 countries that have signed the Convention, and the Seychelles is the seventh African country to ratify.

19 April 2010: H. E. Mr. Abderrahim Ould Hadrami Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Permanent Representative of Mauritania, signs the Convention on Cluster Munitions in New York.

Photo credit: UN Treaty Section

13 April 2010: H. E. Mr. Ronald Jean Jumeau Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Permanent Representative of the Seychelles, signs the Convention on Cluster Munitions in New York.

Photo credit: UN Treaty Section