convention on cluster munitions

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Ukrainian women photograph the remnants of a cluster bomb

Report Details Ongoing Civilian Harm From Banned Cluster Bombs

"The Convention on Cluster Munitions provides a vital framework for ending the immediate and long-term harm and suffering caused by these abhorrent weapons," said one of the treaty's architects.

The overwhelming majority of cluster bomb casualties last year were civilians, with children making up nearly half of those killed or maimed by remnants of the internationally banned munitions, a report published Monday revealed.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) published its annual Cluster Munition Monitor report, which "details the policy and practice of all countries with respect to the international treaty that prohibits cluster munitions and requires destruction of stockpiles, clearance of areas contaminated by cluster munition remnants, and victim assistance."

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Bipartisan House Amendment to Ban US Cluster Bomb Exports Fails

"The legacy of cluster bombs is misery, death, and expensive cleanup after generations of use," said Rep. Betty McCollum. "These weapons should be eliminated from our stockpiles."

The U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday rejected a bipartisan amendment to the 2024 military spending bill that would have prohibited the transfer of cluster munitions—which are banned under a treaty ratified by more than 100 nations but not the United States—to any country.

The House voted 160-269 on the amendment to next year's National Defense Authorization Act co-sponsored by Reps. Sarah Jacobs (D-Calif.), Matt Gaetz (R-Fl.), Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), and Jim McGovern (D-Mass.). Seventy-five Democrats voted for the measure, while 137 voted "no"; 85 GOP lawmakers approved the amendment while 132 opposed it.

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As US Sends Cluster Munitions to Ukraine, Three More Countries Destroy Stockpiles

Nobel laureate Mary Wareham admonished nonsignatories to the Convention on Cluster Munitions to join "without delay" as Bulgaria, Slovakia, and South Africa said they have dismantled their arsenals.

As the U.S. gives cluster bombs to Ukraine—and as the Biden administration reportedly moves to send longer-range missiles armed with them to Kyiv—three nations this week said they've finished destroying their stockpiles of the internationally banned weapons amid renewed calls for more countries to join the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

The 11th meeting of parties to the 2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions (CCM), to which 112 nations are party, wrapped up Thursday in Geneva on a high note as Bulgaria, Slovakia, and South Africa announced that they have completed the destruction of a combined 9,582 bombs and 585,422 bomblets. South Africa is the only country that once possessed but gave up both nuclear weapons and cluster bombs.

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A child walking with a woman points at an old blue car seen amid severely damaged buildings

Cluster Bombs Killed, Wounded Nearly 1,000 Civilians in 2022 as 73 Countries Refused to Join Global Ban

"It's unconscionable that civilians are still dying from cluster munition attacks 15 years after these weapons were outlawed," said one advocate.

The refusal of countries including Russia, Ukraine, and the United States to end the use and transfer of cluster munitions caused nearly 1,000 civilian deaths and injuries in 2022, according to the latest international report on the use of the widely banned weapons.

In the Cluster Munition Monitor 2023 report on Tuesday, a coalition including Human Rights Watch (HRW), Humanity & Inclusion, and the Colombian Campaign to Ban Landmines reported that cluster munitions killed or wounded at least 1,172 people last year.

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Sending Cluster Bombs to Ukraine Indicts the US’ Moral Posturing

The Biden administration overrode the warnings of rights advocates and transferred the weapons, which are sure to pose a threat to life well into the future, as they have in other countries.

President Joe Biden’s administration has taken a cruel weapon—the cluster bomb—off the shelf and sent it to Ukraine to be used in the war against Russia. Prior to being transferred to Ukraine, cluster bombs made in the United States were used by Saudi Arabia as recently as last year to devastating effect in its war in Yemen. The weapons pose such an extraordinary danger to civilians that—although the U.S. is among a minority of countries that refuses to sign the Convention on Cluster Munitions banning them, and retains such weapons in its arsenal—they have largely been gathering dust because their use and sale are so controversial on the world stage. The White House’s decision to transfer the bombs to Ukraine both escalates the already horrific war and legitimizes a weapon that has no place in our world.

Cluster bombs are large bombs that contain dozens or even hundreds of smaller bombs, or “bomblets.” Cluster bombs are designed to scatter the bomblets over a wide area upon detonation. At a time when the United States and its allies often claim—inaccurately—to carry out precision killing with “surgical strikes,” cluster bombs are imprecise by nature.

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Opinion

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."

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.

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Watchdog Group: New Evidence US Cluster Bombs Used in Yemen

Human Rights Watch says civilians among casualties from widely-banned weapons

A human rights watchdog said Wednesday it has fresh evidence the Saudi-led coalition used U.S. cluster bombs, resulting in the deaths of dozens of civilians in Yemen.

Human Rights Watch said it identified United States-made ground-launched M26 cluster munition rockets that were likely used in seven attacks in the country's northwestern Hajja governorate between late April and mid-July. The group said it visited four of the seven sites and also spoke with witnesses of the attacks who said that three children were among the 13 civilians killed in the attacks. The group viewed photographic evidence of unexploded munition remnants at the other sites, it said.

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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."

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."

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