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Page 2 - Hermes probes BAE and EADS on cluster bombs
year excluded Poongsan Corporation in South Korea from its investment portfolio for producing cluster bombs.
Alexander Reinhardt, head of media relations at EADS, said: “We have never produced the kinds of cheap, controversial cluster bombs that have been referred to in the media. We have in the past produced submunitions with a self-destruct mechanism that destroys the device after 72 hours. However, we terminated this activity in 1994. All the ammunition that we produce is in line with national and international regulations such as the recent initiative by Norway to examine the production of cluster bombs. There is a fine line, of course, in weapons production, which is what we do. Should, for example, a NATO client of ours make an order for of our self destructing submunitions, then we would restart production.”
BAE Systems did not return calls for comment.
Organisations including the Red Cross, the Cluster Munition Coalition and the United Nations, have
criticised cluster bomb production because of the high proportion of civilians they kill in conflict zones. However, the manufacture of cluster bombs is not illegal under international law.
“There is a fine line, of course, in weapons production.”
Separately, the UK Local Authority Pension Fund Forum (LAPFF), which represents 40 funds managing £70bn in assets, is drawing up a series of questions to put to defence companies, according to UK newspaper, The Observer. It said the questions would focus on company conduct in winning contracts, including the use of bribery.
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