A leading Vatican diplomat said that the Holy See “is deeply concerned about the continued use of cluster munitions, and the growing number of civilian lives they are costing.”
“There is no time to waste, precisely because each and every human life is of inestimable value, whether that of a soldier, a civilian, a woman or a child, as it is a gift from God,” said Archbishop Ettore Balestrero, apostolic nuncio and Permanent Observer to the United Nations and other international organizations in Geneva, Switzerland.
Archbishop Balestrero’s statement, made at a UN conference on September 16, followed an earlier statement in which he called on all nations to adhere to, and implement, the Convention on Cluster Munitions, a 2008 treaty.