UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 22 (UPI) -- The Italian government at the United Nations filed an instrument of ratification of the convention on cluster bombs, the Italian secretary of state announced.
Italian Secretary of State Enzo Scotti said Italy became the 64th party to the cluster munitions convention, opened for ratification in Oslo in 2008.
"With this ratification Italy confirms its humanitarian commitment, and more specifically, to putting an end to the unacceptable suffering of civilian populations as a result of cluster munitions," he said in a statement.
World leaders at a cluster bomb convention in Laos last year agreed to a declaration that condemns the use of the weapons and increases the available resources for their victims.
Christine Beerli, vice president of the International Committee of the Red Cross, said after last week's cluster munitions conference in Lebanon that there were "encouraging" trends that have developed since the Laos summit.
The convention prohibits the use, development, production and other proliferation activities associated with cluster munitions. States party to the convention are obligated to take measures to destroy stockpiles and clear munitions remnants from their territory.
Cluster weapons break up over a target and disperse hundreds of tiny bombs over a wide area.
