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Kuta, Bali. Indonesia said on Monday it would ratify the international Convention on Cluster Munitions because such weapons ran counter to principles of universal human rights.

“Yes, we will soon ratify the convention. We have held meetings with the House of Representatives and we see no problem in ratifying it even though Indonesia has no cluster bombs,” Reslan Izhar Djenie, the director general for multilateral cooperation at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said in Kuta, where Indonesia is hosting an international conference on cluster bombs being attended by 31 countries and six international organizations.

Cluster bombs are air-dropped or ground-launched explosive weapons that eject smaller sub-munitions, or clusters of bomblets.

The meeting, sponsored by Indonesia, Norway, Germany, Austria, Australia and the United Nations Development Program, aims to encourage countries around the world to sign and ratify the convention. Indonesia was one of the original signatories of the convention in Dublin, Ireland, in December 2008.

“The Asia-Pacific region has suffered the most due to cluster munitions,” Reslan said.

He added that 12 countries in Asia Pacific had signed the convention but only two — Japan and Vietnam — had ratified it.

Worldwide, only 24 of 103 signatories to the convention have ratified it.

According to the London-based Cluster Munition Coalition, more than 100,000 people around the world have been killed by cluster bombs. Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam and Thailand have recorded the highest number of people killed by cluster bombs in Southeast Asia.

“Indonesia believes that the Convention on Cluster Munitions aims to deal with serious human problems caused by cluster bombs, and this forum invites countries in the Asia-Pacific region to sign and ratify the convention,” Reslan said.

He said 80 percent of cluster bomb victims were civilians, including women and children, and called cluster munitions inhumane and indiscriminate weapons whose use should be immediately halted.

Reslan said the convention signatories believed the eradication of cluster munitions would not compromise the security of individual countries but rather improve it.

UNDP’s resident representative to Indonesia, El Mostafa Benlamih, said cluster bombs were not only a military issue, but also a matter of humanity that deserved international attention.

He also said the eradication of cluster munitions would not affect the security of countries. “So, [we] need the commitment of all countries to eradicate cluster munitions. The sooner, the better.”