De Búrca supports Greens’call for ban on depleted uranium weapons in EU Parliament
Green Party Senator, Déirdre de Búrca has supported a resolution put forward by the European Greens/EFA Group in the European Parliament calls for negotiations witha view to a global ban on depleted uranium weapons. “The Greens/EFA resolution calls for negotiations leading to the establishment of an international treaty to globally ban all production, transfer and use of so-called depleted uranium (DU) conventional weaponry” says Senator De Búrca. “EU and NATO forces should immediately stop deploying and using these weapons. Armed forces from various EU Member States widely used Depleted Uranium in the Balkans, Iraq and Afghanistan, leading to fatal diseases and birth malformations. Troops and civilian personnel must not be deployed where armed forces have used this highly carcinogenic material”. De Búrca says that EU member states should be required to submit their health reports in line with the UN resolution on Depleted Uranium as adopted on 5 December 2007. ” They should also inform troops and civilians about the areas where DU has been used and initiate further investigations” she says. “My European Green colleagues have called on the European Commission to open possibilities for projects aimed to assist victims and clean-up operations in the affected areas” she says. “Pending the outcome of investigations and the treaty negotiations, both EU and NATO should maintain a full Depleted Uranium moratorium.”
