A draft UN protocol that would force both sides in a conflict to clear up all explosive remnants of war was been condemned as inadequate by campaigners.
Landmine Action said there were serious loopholes in the proposals, meaning governments would not have to comply with certain requirements if they decided it was not practicable to do so.
Activists said there were too many grey areas within the draft, providing governments with a get-out clause.
As talks began in Geneva to create the legally binding protocol on the impact of explosive remnants of war, the charity criticised governments who use cluster bombs. The negotiations in Geneva will continue until June 27th.
So far British and US forces have admitted that at least 300,000 cluster bomblets were used by the coalition forces in Iraq during the recent war. Unexploded cluster bombs had huge impacts on civilians and the effects were not being adequately tackled by the UN proposals, said campaigners.
Landmine Action research into the 1991 Gulf War and the conflicts in Kosovo and Afghanistan claimed unexploded cluster bombs and other explosive remnants of war caused even more post-conflict deaths among civilians - especially children - than landmines.
Each air-dropped cluster bomb could contain over 200 bomblets which were scattered over a wide area. These bomblets often failed to explode and effectively turned into landmines which killed and maimed indiscriminately, long after war was over.
Unlike landmines, there was is no provision in international law that specifically addresses the problems of explosive remnants of war.
AP