Agence France-Presse,
GENOA, Italy: Pope Benedict XVI on Sunday called on governments to adopt an international convention banning the use of cluster munitions, on the eve of a conference on the issue in Dublin.
The pope spoke during a visit to the northern Italian city of Genoa, ahead of Monday's opening of a 12-day conference aimed at sealing an international treaty banning their use.
“I hope that thanks to the responsibility of all participants we will get a strong and credible international instrument” to ban the weapons, he said during Angelus prayers in one of the city's square.
“We have to remedy the errors of the past and avoid their repetition in the future,” he added.
The pope prayed for the victims of cluster munitions and for their families, pointing out that some of those directly affected by the weapons would attend the Dublin conference.
Though the Dublin Diplomatic Conference on Cluster Munitions, which concludes on May 30, hopes to achieve an unambiguous accord, notable absentees include China, India, Israel, Pakistan, Russia and the United States: all major producers and stockpilers.
