A New Report Probing the Use of Cluster Bombs Finds Ukraine and the US to be Among the Nations Still Using the Banned Munitions
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An investigation produced by Human Rights Watch (HRW) found that internationally banned cluster bombs are still in use and continue to claim civilian lives all over the world. Cluster munitions are a particularly deadly form of ordnance that eject small submunitions, typically while still in the air. When these weapons fail to explode, they function as landmines and can lie dormant for years until they are found and inadvertently activated.
According to the group’s annual Cluster Munition Monitor report, 219 people were killed or injured by these armaments in 2023, with children accounting for 47% all of casualties from cluster munition remnants. Ninety-three percent of all those killed or wounded that year were reported to have been civilians. As HRW points out, last year’s total “represents a significant decrease compared to the previous year’s record spike, however, the actual number is likely much higher as many casualties go unreported.”
The Convention on Cluster Munitions – a 2008 treaty banning these armaments – was ratified by 112 countries. Nevertheless, nations such as Russia, Syria, Ukraine, and the US – which are not among the treaty’s signatories – have continued to use cluster bombs in battle.
“Russia has used stocks of old cluster munitions and newly developed models in Ukraine since 2022. Between July 2023 and April 2024, US President Joe Biden approved five transfers to Ukraine of US cluster munitions delivered by 155mm artillery projectiles and by ballistic missiles,” HRW noted in a statement that accompanied the report.