U.S. Refuses to Sign Treaty Banning Cluster Bombs; U.S.-Imposed Conditions Threaten Mexican Anti-Drug Package; Marked Increase in Kidnapping in Haiti

By Gabrielle Meury
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

LONDON, England- More than 100 nations formally agreed to ban cluster bombs, but powerful military states are refusing to join it and experts say the treaty is filled with holes that make it unworkable. The United States, China and Russia are among those who have not joined the treaty, while Britain and other NATO states support it.
Mark Garlasco, an analyst at Human Rights Watch, stated that the treaty is “rock solid” and will outlaw a lethal munition. "This is going to outlaw 99.9 percent of the cluster munitions out there ... which will stigmatize the weapon even for those countries that aren't signatories to the ban." Cluster munitions contain "bomblets" that are scattered from planes or by artillery shells and that detonate like mines. They often lie unexploded for months or years until accidentally stepped on. Children are frequently the victims.
The U.N. Development Program says cluster munitions have caused more than 13,000 confirmed injuries and deaths around the world, the vast majority of them in Laos, Vietnam and Afghanistan.
The United States has made it clear that it intends to go on using the bombs as it sees fit.

For more information, please see:

Yahoo News- Experts See Big Holes in Cluster Bomb Ban- 29 May 2008
Reuters- Meeting Adopts Cluster Bomb Ban, Debates Loopholes- 30 May 2008
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MEXICO CITY, Mexico- The U.S. Congress has passed an anti-drug aid package for Mexico that is linked to a series of human rights and legal conditions. The conditions touch on human rights and judicial reforms. Mexico considers this certification a violation of its sovereignty. Jose Luis Santiago Vasconcelos, the assistant attorney general for international affairs, stated, "Why don't we tell the Americans to use those [funds] for their own interdiction forces or interception forces ... and stop the flow of weapons. Rather than giving them to Mexico, they can be used by the Americans to reinforce their Customs service, their Border Patrol, and stop the arms trafficking to our country."
The $1.4 billion plan is aimed at helping Mexico obtain helicopters, improve intelligence sharing, and reduce the smuggling of high-powered weapons from the U.S. to Mexico.
Eduardo de la Torre Jaramillo, a member of the ruling party who sits on the lower house's defense commission, stated that U.S. politicians need to understand that Mexico has done its part and does not need additional conditions. Mexican authorities cite record drug seizures, the extraditions of drug lords, 22,000 people prosecuted for drug crimes, sweeping judicial reforms and better police training as elements of their efforts to halt the drug war.

For more information, please see:
Dallas News- U.S. Conditions Threaten Mexico Anti-Drug Package- 29 May 2008
Dallas News- U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Defends Anti-Drug Package- 30 May 2008
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PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti- Haiti has faced a growing number of kidnappings in the past year. A spokesman for the U.N. police in Haiti reported that in January to May of 2008 there were 152 registered abductions, compared to 237 for the entire year of 2007.
Human rights activist Pierre Esperance, who heads the National Network to Defend Human Rights, questioned the official tally. He stated that close relatives of kidnap victims often refuse to report cases to the police to protect their loved ones from being killed. “Only about half of the cases are reported because the bandits usually warn they would kill hostages if relatives denounced kidnappings to the police. From 2005 up to now, at least 27 hostages, including 12 children, have been executed by their captors, sometimes even after a ransom was paid.” The country has averaged one abduction a day so far this year, including a Canadian intern seized outside her home this month.
President Rene Preval is currently trying to pull together a new government to replace one toppled by food riots in April, which effected the capital, Port-au-Prince, and killed at least six people.
The riots and have had a substantial impact on the tourism industry, a crucial pillar of the Haitian economy. "Whatever happens in Port-au-Prince has an immediate impact on the image of Haiti as a vacation destination," said former Tourism Minister Patrick Delatour, who lost his job when the Senate fired Prime Minister Jacques Edouard Alexis over the food riots.

For more information, please see:

Reuters- Haiti Hit By Increase in Kidnappings- 30 May 2008

The Canadian Press- Quebec Woman Freed by Haitian Captors Unharmed After Week in Captivity- 31 May 2008

Associated Press- Haiti’s Tourism Dreams Deferred by Riots- 1 June 2008