PRESS RELEASE Wednesday 13 August 12 noon.
Children Against the War and Voices UK
Contact: 0845 458 2564 or press@voicesuk.org

Children stage Downing Street protest against cluster bomb deaths in Iraq

Sunday August 17th, 12 noon, Parliament Square: Children Against the War and Voices UK will be staging a mass anti-cluster bomb protest in Whitehall this Sunday to protest the continuing impact of US/UK cluster munitions - and other unexploded ordnance - on children in Iraq. Members of Children Against the War will be protesting with anti-cluster balloons [A] and enacting the tragedy of child deaths from unexploded ordnance. They will use hand-paints to make a 'Kids Say No to Clusters' banner in Parliament Square before marching to Downing Street, with a giant cardboard cluster bomb they have made themselves, to hand in a letter.

Since the end of the war over 1000 Iraqi children have been killed or injured by unexploded US/UK cluster bomblets, or by the thousands of tonnes of munitions stockpiled and abandoned by Iraqi forces in public buildings and residential areas [B]. Under international law the US and Britain are obligated to remove these dangers from communities in Iraq [B]

Oxfam believes that cluster bombs - which killed over 200 civilians during the war [C] - 'can by their very nature only be indiscriminate' and that their use is therefore illegal [D].

Children Against the War spokesperson Sonia (age 9) said, "Even though the war has ended Iraqi children continue to suffer and die because of these evil weapons. We are here today to demand an immediate ban on the use of cluster bombs and for the US and British overnments to use all their resources to clear up this deadly legacy that they have left in Iraq and Afghanistan."

Photo opportunity: Meet in Parliament Square at 12 noon for banner-making and protest, followed by a letter hand-in at Downing Street at 1.15pm. For more information contact 0845 458 2564 or press@voicesuk.org

NOTES
A. The balloons are bright yellow with a picture of a cluster bomb and the text 'Clear Up Clusters.'
B. See UNICEF press release, 17th July, available on-line at www.reliefweb.int
C. See 'How Many Civilians Were Killed by Cluster Bombs?', Iraq Body Count, 6th May 2003, available on-line at www.iraqbodycount.net
D. See 'Protecting Iraq's Civilians', Oxfam briefing paper, 20th March, available on-line at www.reliefweb.int