We are pleased to inform you that the Steering Committee of the US
Campaign to Ban Landmines recently agreed to expand the mission of the
coalition to include advocacy toward a prohibition on the use,
production, and transfer of cluster munitions that cause unacceptable
harm to civilians.

Cluster munitions differ from antipersonnel mines in a variety of ways,
but their effects on civilian populations are often similar. Cluster
munitions are weapons that can disperse up to several hundred smaller
submunitions - sometimes referred to as "bomblets" - over wide areas.
They have indiscriminate effects that kill and injure civilians during
attacks. One typical cluster bomb can blanket blomblets over an area
several hundred square meters. They also often fail to detonate as
designed, leaving hidden bombs scattered across landscapes and causing
severe and lasting humanitarian and development consequences similar to
antipersonnel mines.

The Steering Committee was compelled to expand the mission because the
effects of cluster munitions in many ways mirror landmines, many USCBL
organizations are already working extensively on cluster munitions, and
many in the advocacy community believe that concentrated action now can
lead to concrete results,. After extensive discussions, the Steering
Committee revised the goals of the USCBL to include:

-- U.S. accession to the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty and policies that move
towards accession: a U.S. ban on the use, production, stockpiling, and
transfer of antipersonnel landmines;
-- increased resources for humanitarian demining and mine risk
education programs;
-- increased resources for victim rehabilitation, assistance, and
psychosocial and economic inclusion;
-- enactment of a U.S. prohibition on the use of cluster munitions
in or near populated areas;
-- enactment of a U.S. prohibition on the use, production,
stockpiling, and transfer of cluster munitions that cause unacceptable
harm to civilians; and
-- U.S. support for an international instrument prohibiting cluster
munitions that cause unacceptable harm to civilians.

The Steering Committee does not envision that the addition of cluster
munitions will diminish the organization's work to ban landmines. A
comprehensive ban on antipersonnel landmines is, and will remain, the
primary goal of the coalition.

We are all eager to begin work on combating the enormous threat to
innocent life that cluster bombs pose. This expansion will provide
advocates like you with new opportunities to take action. Please
continue to check the USCBL website www.banminesusa.org
We are in the process of adding material on cluster munitions, including
background information, action suggestions, and updates from campaigners
around the country.