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cluster munition coalition
Sending Cluster Bombs to Ukraine Will Make the War Deadlier
In order to protect children and other innocent civilians in Ukraine, all countries must permanently ban the use and production of cluster munitions.
Jul 10, 2023
The use of cluster bombs by the warring factions in Ukraine is a tragic turn of events that will result in many more civilian deaths, many of them children. Russian forces have used cluster munitions in populated areas of Ukraine since they started the invasion of that country on February 24, 2022. Ukraine has also been using them and will increase their use with the recent approval from the United States to deliver those weapons.
President Joe Biden justified his decision to send cluster bombs to Ukraine because its forces are running out of ammunition. The decision to send cluster bombs to Ukraine is happening at the same time that the United States government is destroying its chemical weapons stockpile from a military installation in Kentucky. It is a tragic irony that while the U.S. is stopping the use of a dangerous weapon, it is still promoting the use of an equally indiscriminate one.
Cluster bombs eject explosive bomblets (little bombs) designed to kill indiscriminately and destroy vehicles over a wide expanse. According to national security adviser Jack Sullivan, while Russian submunitions were 30 to 40% duds, the ones sent to Ukraine did not have a dud rate (the rate at which they fail to explode upon landing) higher than 2.35%. Those unexploded bomblets can continue killing or maiming civilians long after a conflict has ended, and are very costly to find and remove.
“Cluster bombs make evident the perverse use of technology. They kill more with less.”
“Cluster munitions used by Russia and Ukraine are killing civilians now and will continue to do so for many years,” said Mary Wareham, acting arms director at Human Rights Watch. “Both sides should immediately stop using them and not try to get more of these indiscriminate weapons.” Studies of cluster munitions use have found that between one-quarter and two-thirds of the victims are children.
The use of cluster munitions has been condemned by the United Nations, the Red Cross, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, the Cluster Munition Coalition, and Doctors Without Borders. In a statement, the U.S. Cluster Munition Coalition said it was “appalled by the decision by President Biden to transfer these banned weapons, and urges that he reconsider given the significant humanitarian, human rights, and political risks involved.”
Attacks using cluster munitions may be considered war crimes, since they are carried out in violation of accepted international rules of war. All nations that ratified the Convention on Cluster Munitions adopted in Dublin, Ireland, in May 2008, are prohibited from using them. This Convention entered into force and became binding international law on August 1, 2010. The Convention on Cluster Munitions “bans the stockpiling, use and transfer of virtually all existing cluster bombs, and provides for the clearing up of unexploded munitions.”
As of February 10, 2022, a total of 123 states joined the Convention, 110 as state parties and 13 as signatories. Many of the world’s major military powers, including the United States, Russia, Brazil, China, and Ukraine, are not signatories of that treaty. The treaty’s obligations became legally binding after 30 states ratified the convention, and subsequently for all other ratifying states.
More than 100 countries have agreed in principle that their stockpiles of cluster munitions should be destroyed. However, at least 17 countries have used cluster munitions in recent times. Since 2005, Handicap International has collected hundreds of thousands of signatures to support its campaign to ban these weapons. “Cluster bombs make evident the perverse use of technology. They kill more with less,” says Carlos Duguech, an Argentinian peace activist.
There is a disconnect between leaders’ decisions about the war in Ukraine, and what most of the people worldwide, horrified by the traumas of war, truly want. In order to protect children and other innocent civilians in Ukraine, all countries must permanently ban the use and production of cluster bombs. Avoiding the loss of thousands of innocent children’s lives justifies this decision.
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Cluster Bomb Opponents 'Appalled' by Biden Decision to Send Banned Weapons to Ukraine
One campaigner warned the move "will contribute to the terrible casualties being suffered by Ukrainian civilians both immediately and for years to come."
Jul 07, 2023
President Joe Biden has reportedly given final approval for the transfer of U.S. cluster munitions to Ukraine, ignoring warnings from human rights groups and progressive lawmakers who underscored the indiscriminate weapons' devastating impacts on civilians immediately upon use and far into the future.
According to The Washington Post, a drawdown of the globally deplored weapons from Pentagon stocks is set to be formally announced on Friday. The U.S., which has used the weapons around the world, is believed to possess more than 3 million cluster munitions containing over 400 million submunitions.
More than 120 countries have signed the United Nations Convention on Cluster Munitions, which prohibits the use or stockpiling of the weapons. But the U.S., Russia, and Ukraine have opposed global efforts to ban the weapons, which are notorious for failing to explode on impact and littering landscapes with what are effectively landmines.
Human Rights Watch (HRW), which urged the Biden administration not to transfer the weapons to Ukraine, has documented the use of cluster munitions by both Russian and Ukrainian forces since the start of the war last year.
"We can support the people of Ukraine in their freedom struggle, while also opposing violations of international law."
The Cluster Munition Coalition, a global civil society campaign working to eradicate the weapons, said it was "appalled" by the U.S. president's approval of the transfer to Ukraine.
"The Biden administration's decision to transfer cluster munitions will contribute to the terrible casualties being suffered by Ukrainian civilians both immediately and for years to come," said Paul Hannon, vice chair of the coalition's governance board. "Russia and Ukraine's use of cluster munitions is adding to Ukraine's already massive contamination from explosive remnants and landmines."
The Post reported Friday that "the principal weapon under consideration, an M864 artillery shell first produced in 1987, is fired from the 155mm howitzers the United States and other Western countries have provided Ukraine."
"In its last publicly available estimate, more than 20 years ago, the Pentagon assessed that artillery shell to have a 'dud' rate of 6%, meaning that at least four of each of the 72 submunitions each shell carries would remain unexploded across an area of approximately 22,500 square meters—roughly the size of 4½ football fields," the Post added.
So if US provides at least 100,000 cluster bombs
And each one has at least 4 duds
Ukraine will be littered with at least 400,000 unexploded bomblets
Congress MUST pass @RepSaraJacobs #NDAA amendment to block this transfer and protect Ukrainian kids.https://t.co/HekzoUh77W https://t.co/ABa0j4ycKl pic.twitter.com/Slc7Rzl62I
— Just Foreign Policy (@justfp) July 7, 2023
In order to deliver the weapons to Ukraine, the Post noted, Biden is trampling on "U.S. law prohibiting the production, use, or transfer of cluster munitions with a failure rate of more than 1%."
Mary Wareham, advocacy director of the arms division of HRW, told the newspaper that "it's dismaying to see the long-established 1% unexploded ordnance standard for cluster munitions rolled back as this will result in more duds, which means an even greater threat to civilians, including de-miners."
HRW released a report this week detailing its research showing that "Ukrainian cluster munition rocket attacks on Russian-controlled areas in and around the city of Izium in eastern Ukraine during 2022 caused many casualties among Ukrainian civilians."
"Transferring these weapons would inevitably cause long-term suffering for civilians and undermine the international opprobrium of their use," the group said. "The use of cluster munitions in areas with civilians makes an attack indiscriminate in violation of international humanitarian law, and possibly a war crime."
Reports that Biden has approved the munitions transfer to Ukraine—which has repeatedly pressed the White House for the weapons—came after Germany, a NATO member and U.S. ally, expressed opposition to sending the bombs to Ukraine, citing its commitments under the Convention on Cluster Munitions.
In the U.S., progressive Reps. Sara Jacobs (D-Calif.) and Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) on Thursday proposed an amendment to the nation's annual military policy bill that would prohibit the transfer or sale of cluster munitions.
"If the U.S. is going to be a leader on international human rights, we must not participate in human rights abuses," Omar told Politico. "We can support the people of Ukraine in their freedom struggle, while also opposing violations of international law."
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US Provides Cover for Use of Banned Cluster Bombs in Yemen
"Any recipient of US cluster munitions has to agree not to use them in populated areas. Saudi Arabia may be violating that requirement."
Aug 22, 2015
UNITED NATIONS - The United States is providing a thinly-veiled cover virtually legitimizing the use of cluster bombs - banned by an international convention - by Saudi Arabia and its allies in their heavy fighting against Houthi rebels in Yemen.
Asked if cluster bombs are legitimate weapons of war, "if used appropriately", U.S. State Department spokesman John Kirby told reporters: "If used appropriately, there are end-use regulations regarding the use of them. But yes, when used appropriately and according (to) those end-use rules, it's permissible."
But Steve Goose of Human Rights Watch told IPS the State Department official refers to "end use regulations."
"Any recipient of U.S. cluster munitions has to agree not to use them in populated areas. Saudi Arabia may be violating that requirement. State and Defense Department officials are looking into that," he said.
The Saudi-led coalition of Arab states, which has been uninterruptedly bombing rebel-controlled Yemen, includes Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Sudan, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar and Bahrain.
The 80 non-signatories to the convention include all 10 countries, plus Yemen. The United States, which provides intelligence to the Saudi-led coalition, is also a non-signatory.
Asked whether it would be alarming or disconcerting if the coalition is using American-supplied cluster bombs, Kirby told reporters early this week: "I would just tell you that we remain in close contact, regular contact with the Saudi Government on a wide range of issues in Yemen.
"We've urged all sides in the conflict - you've heard me say this before - including the Saudis, to take proactive measures to minimize harm to civilians. We have discussed reports of the alleged use of cluster munitions with the Saudis," he added.
Goose said a U.S. Defense Department official has already said the U.S. is aware that Saudi Arabia has used cluster munitions, so there is no real need for the State Department to confirm or deny.
"Cluster munitions should not be used by anyone, anywhere, at any time due to the foreseeable harm to civilians," Goose added.
He also said the States Parties to the Convention on Cluster Munitions are meeting for the first Five Year Review Conference of the convention next month and are expected to condemn Saudi use and call for a halt.
Cluster bombs have also been used in Syria, South Sudan, Ukraine and by a non-state actor, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), among others.
The Convention on Cluster Munitions, which was adopted in 2008, entered into force in 2010. A total of 117 states have joined the Convention, with 93 States parties who have signed and ratified the treaty.
The convention, which bans cluster munitions, requires the destruction of stockpiles, clearance of areas contaminated by cluster munition remnants, and assistance to victims.
Human Rights Watch, a founding member of the international Cluster Munition Coalition, the civil society campaign behind the Convention on Cluster Munitions and publisher of Cluster Munition Monitor 2014, said last May that banned cluster munitions have wounded civilians, including a child, in attacks in Houthi-controlled territory in northern Yemen.
HRW is preparing another report on new use of cluster munitions, scheduled to be released next week.
On Sept. 3, the Cluster Munition Monitor 2015, which provides a global overview of states' adherence to the ban convention, will be released in Geneva.
An HRW team, in a report released after a visit to the Saada governorate in northern Yemen, said the Saudi-led coalition and other warring parties in Yemen "need to recognize that using banned cluster munitions is very likely to harm civilians."
Ole Solvang, senior emergencies researcher at HRW, said, "These weapons can't distinguish military targets from civilians, and their unexploded sub-munitions threaten civilians, especially children, even long after the fighting."
In one attack, which wounded three people, at least two of them most likely civilians, the cluster munitions were air-dropped, pointing to the Saudi-led coalition as responsible because it is the only party using aircraft.
In a second attack, which wounded four civilians, including a child, HRW said it was not able to determine responsibility because the cluster munitions were ground-fired conclusively, but the attack was on an area that has been under attack by the Saudi-led coalition.
In these and other documented cluster munition attacks, HRW has identified the use of three types of cluster munitions in Yemen and called upon the United States to denounce their use.
HRW also said the discovery of cluster munitions in Houthi-controlled territory that had been attacked by coalition aircraft on previous occasions and the location within range of Saudi artillery suggest that Saudi forces fired the cluster munitions, but further investigation is needed to determine responsibility conclusively.
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