Swiss step up efforts against high-fatality arms
Switzerland has launched an initiative for a total ban on dum-dum type bullets, but says it will not endorse the call by NGOs, for a moratorium on cluster bombs.
The Swiss ambassador for disarmament, Christian Faessler, and Colonel Erwin Dahinden from the Swiss General Staff, spoke of the proposals at a preparatory meeting, ahead of the Geneva conference on conventional arms, in December.
Colonel Dahinden said Switzerland would not ban cluster bombs because of their effectiveness in combatting enemy tanks, with the minimum of cost.
He added that cluster bombs are likely to be developed further because of their advantages. Currently, only industrialised nations are in possession of cluster bombs.
However, with respect to dum-dum bullets, Dahinden said that smaller weapons were responsible for almost 70 percent of injuries during conflicts. The bullets, sometimes referred to as hollow points, explode after entering the body.
Switzerland also has hopes of guaranteeing under an international scheme, a rate of reliability for detonators of at least 98 percent, for the purpose of reducing the long-term effects of sub munitions. This would make it possible for old stocks of the weapons to be eliminated in 20 years’ time.
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