KEY POINTS:
New Zealand is hoping to build consensus around restrictions on cluster bombs at an international meeting it will host next year.
Disarmament and Arms Control Minister Phil Goff said delegates from more than 100 countries would attend the meeting in Wellington from February 18-22.
"The humanitarian crisis created by more than one million unexploded cluster munitions left in the wake of the Israel-Hezbollah conflict in Southern Lebanon last year demands a response on restricting the use of such munitions," Mr Goff said.
New Zealand had been part of a group of countries working to develop a new international agreement aimed at preventing such a situation happening again.
New Zealand Defence Force personnel were working in Lebanon alongside other international groups to clean up the unexploded bombs.
"But we need to deal with the cause of this situation rather than simply responding to the effects."
People in countries such as Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia were still enduring the impact of mines and cluster munitions left over from former conflicts, so it was important to host the conference in the Asia-Pacific region, Mr Goff said.
In February in Oslo, 46 countries had committed themselves to the cause at a meeting which New Zealand co-chaired.
Meetings in Peru, Austria and then New Zealand would develop the legally binding instrument on cluster bombs and seek to get more countries committed to supporting it.
- NZPA
