Last January 2, 2015, Palestine became the eighty-ninth State Party to the Convention on Cluster Munitions by depositing its instrument of accession at the United Nations Headquarters in New York.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Costa Rica and Chairman of the Meeting of States Parties, Mr. Manuel González Sanz said that “the decision of the State of Palestine to accede to the Convention fills us with deep satisfaction and represents an advance in the pursuit of consolidation of the international regime against cluster munitions. ”

Costa Rica, which until September 2015 holds the Presidency of the Fifth Meeting of States Parties, committed to the universalization of the Convention, has a main short-term goal to reach the figure of 100 States Parties, before the First Review Conference of the Convention, to be held in Croatia in the month of September.

The head of the Costa Rican diplomacy recalled that promoting the universality of the Convention seeks to ensure the achievement of one of the key elements of humanitarian disarmament: the stigmatization of this weapon with high human costs and, of course, its use. “We are pleased even more than the last accession was of the State of Palestine, which aspire to be a reference to States Signatories and Parties in their immediate neighborhood – the Middle East and North Africa – in favor of accession of the instrument. We reiterate our willingness to rely on the platform under our Presidency to discuss and urge all mechanism of cooperation, which requires that the 15 countries of this outstanding region join the Convention », added the Chancellor González.

Costa Rica has a special commitment to the many victims who have suffered and continue to suffer serious physical and moral damage, even loss of life due to these insidious devices. In that vein, is that the Costa Rican President recalled that all States Parties are required to promote its universalization and implementation to achieve a world free of cluster munitions; and to highlight those States that continue to use them in violation of international humanitarian law.

A total of 116 states from all regions of the world have joined the Convention since it was opened for signature in Oslo, Norway, on December 3, 2008. In particular, the Middle East and North Africa has three States Parties to the Convention: Iraq, Lebanon and Tunisia.