Georgina te Heuheu

By Matthew Backhouse for NZPA

Wellington, Sept 24 NZPA - New Zealand should ban the use of cluster munitions in military training, a parliamentary select committee was told today.

The Cluster Munitions (Prohibition) Bill would forbid the use, acquisition, possession, retention and transfer of the weapons, but allow them to be used by the military for bomb clearance training.

Cluster bombs are canisters dropped from aircraft that open above ground and release a large numbers of small bomblets.

Many do not explode on impact and remain lethal for years, killing or maiming civilians.

Cluster Munitions Coalition coordinator Mary Wareham said cluster munitions should not be used for training and non-explosive reproductions could be used for electronic detection purposes instead.

"In most cases you don't need cluster munitions for training. Cluster bombs are so inherently dangerous that you don't touch them," she told the foreign affairs, defence and trade select committee today.

Bombs were generally detonated on-site rather than diffused, she said.

The bill, which would also apply to New Zealand citizens living and working abroad, should be amended to exempt those involved in clearing landmines and cluster munitions overseas, Ms Wareham said.

"We didn't want to see them getting into trouble for going about and doing their normal work."

The bill should clearly prohibit the transit of cluster munitions through New Zealand, she said.

It should also prohibit government investment in the development and production of cluster munitions.

The bill will ratify New Zealand's commitment to the international Convention on Cluster Munitions, which was signed by 93 countries last year.

Introducing the bill in July, Disarmament and Arms Control Minister Georgina te Heuheu said the convention had great potential to prevent the harm caused by the weapons.

"New Zealand was one of the leaders of the process to negotiate a convention to ban cluster munitions and provide assistance to victims of them," she said.

"We now need to get our own legislation in order."