A Vatican diplomat said that the Holy See “deplores the fact that cluster munitions, which have devastating long-term consequences for victims and land, continue to be produced, stockpiled, transferred and, even more concerning, used in armed conflicts.”
“These weapons create wounds that damage the very fabric of life, harming not only individual persons and communities, but also their broader network of relationships with the whole human family,” Archbishop Ettore Balestrero, apostolic nuncio and Permanent Observer to the United Nations and other international organizations in Geneva, said on September 14, as he addressed a UN conference.
Archbishop Balestrero called on all nations to adhere to, and implement, the Convention on Cluster Munitions, a 2008 treaty. 112 states are parties to the treaty; China, Russia, and the United States are among the nations that have not adhered to it.