By DPA,
Oslo : Government leaders from more than 100 states Wednesday signed a global ban on the use of cluster bombs.
The treaty, which was negotiated in Dublin in May, bans the production, use and trade of cluster munitions.
Cluster weapons – criticised for carrying a high risk of maiming or killing civilians – can be launched from the air or via artillery shells and can disperse hundreds of bomblets over a target area.
Children are often victims of the weapons since they sometimes mistake the so-called bomblets for toys.
Several non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and humanitarian groups had pushed for the ban.
However, the world’s largest producers and users of cluster bomb munitions – the US, Russia, China, Israel, India and Pakistan – are not signatories of the treaty.