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Nigeria ratifies convention on cluster munitions

By Oludare Richards, Abuja
03 March 2023   |   3:51 am
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has congratulated Nigeria for becoming the 111th state to ratify the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has congratulated Nigeria for becoming the 111th state to ratify the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

Nigeria ratified the treaty on February 28, 2023. It will take effect from August 1, 2023.

The treaty prohibits all use, production, transfer, and stockpiling of cluster munitions.

Continued use of cluster munitions globally causes widespread human suffering, particularly due to their indiscriminate area effect.

In 2022, civilians accounted for 97 per cent of all recorded cluster munitions casualties.

Cluster munitions that do not explode on impact can pose a threat to communities for years, especially as people seek to return home in the wake of armed conflict.

ICRC in Nigeria, in a statement, yesterday, said it works alongside the Nigerian Red Cross Society to help raise awareness among communities on risks posed by explosive remnants of war.

Nigeria becomes the 35th country in Africa to ratify the treaty, underscoring the shared responsibility to prohibit weapons that have dire and long-standing humanitarian consequences.

“We call on all states and parties to armed conflict to immediately stop using, producing, transferring, and stockpiling cluster munitions,” ICRC stated.

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