FOREIGN Affairs Minister Micheal Martin has predicted that "the most significant humanitarian treaty in a decade" will be adopted in Dublin by the end of next week when a formula is agreed banning the use of cluster bombs.A 12-day major international conference aimed at ending the production, use and stockpiling of cluster bombs opened in Croke Park on Monday, attended by representatives from 109 states and from the United Nations, the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Cluster Munitions Coalition.Noticeable absentees, however, were the U.S., Russia and Britain, some of the most prolific users of cluster munitions - bombs launched by aircraft and which scatter smaller explosive devices over large areas. Although they are meant to explode on impact with the ground, some can remain intact for several decades until disturbed.Martin, asked whether a convention of genuine significance could be achieved without the Big 3 states signing up, said there had been "unprecedented momentum" over the 15 months since the issue was first discussed at a conference in Oslo in February last year. The Dublin conference is the fifth and final in a series that started in Oslo."The sheer scale of the conference - the fact that so many people have made the journey - gives us confidence," he said."That said, it will not be without its challenges, and we hope to achieve as wide a consensus as possible."The minister was told by human rights group Amnesty that Ireland must resist pressure to dilute the proposed treaty.Amnesty International's Irish executive director Colm O'Gorman said, "This is a moment where the phrase 'history has its hand on our shoulder' can absolutely be applied."This is an opportunity where, through agreement on this ban, we can be a force of extraordinary and global change. To end the use of these munitions would end significant human misery."