This Cluster bombs to be sent by the USA to Kiev has been around for decades organizations that support human rights and advocates of gun control, they must be illegal because of the great danger they pose to the civilian population.
explosive device Banned in over 100 countries and already used by both Russian and Ukrainian soldiers in the war in Ukraine, causing civilian deaths and serious injury to survivors.
What are cluster bombs?
Cluster bombs were first used in World War II. It was used in World War II (1939-1945). Designed for them destroy multiple scattered military targetssuch as tank or infantry formations and causes the death or injury of warriors. Specifically, they consist of: a container that opens in mid-air and dispenses large quantities of explosive submunitions or ‘bombs’ Over a large area that can reach a radius of 200 to 400 meters.
Some models can unleash over 600 sub-ammo designed to explode when hit the ground, but some do not explode and remain buried. These ‘bombs’ left on the ground can pose a danger to the civilian population comparable to landmines. they may explode years later According to the International Committee of the Red Cross, when a civilian travels through territory causing death or serious injury.
Arms Control Association (ACA) researcher Gabriela Iveliz Rosa Hernández told EFE that buried ammunition could even endanger the lives of Ukrainian forces returning to liberated areas.
Has it been used in Ukraine?
Human Rights Watch (HRW) guarantees: this much Russia Because Ukraine uses such weapons in the war in Ukraine, but he guarantees it Moscow uses it more often than Kiev.
According to HRW, Russia has resorted to such weapons several times. One of the incidents the organization is investigating is that in April 2022, a Russian ballistic missile with a cluster munition warhead exploded over the crowded Kramatorsk train station in eastern Ukraine, killing at least 58 civilians.
According to the United Nations report in March, Ukrainian forces also used cluster bombs in the city of Izium in eastern Ukraine in 2022.
Why were they banned?
Its indiscriminate nature and risks to civilians, broad rejection by the international community to your use
In 2008, the Convention on Cluster Munitions, an international treaty banning the use and production of cluster bombs, was adopted and entered into force in 2010 when the required minimum number of 30 ratifications was reached. According to the text, the remains of such bombs “killing and maiming civilians, including women and children“, “post-conflict rehabilitation and prevention of rebuilding”, and “delaying or preventing the return of refugees.” So far, 123 countries have ratified or at least signed the Convention, including several NATO members such as the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Spain.
At the time of its entry into force in 2010, then-United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon stated that this new vehicle “Take a step towards global disarmament“Then the BBC brought it up. But the main military powers like the US, Russia and China, countries like Ukraine, Israel, Pakistan or India did not sign the agreement.
What is the USA’s position?
one of Washington complex relationship with cluster bombs: discontinued use in Afghanistan in 2002 and Iraq in 2003, and in 2008 for humanitarian reasons, the government of President Barack Obama (2009-2017) agreed to destroy all bombs that did not explode – those that failed and remained buried – more than 1%. But with the Donald Trump Administration (2017-2021) Obama’s plan was canceled under “”.net military benefitCluster munitions, then-Deputy Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan said in 2017, reflecting the view of the Pentagon, which has always been reluctant to abandon such weapons.
As a result, the Joe Biden government’s decision to greenlight the dispatch of cluster bombs, Tighten relations with other countries of the Atlantic Alliance, ACA executive director Daryl Kimball wrote recently. In a press release released Thursday before the decision was approved, Kimball said shipments of such ammunition would “have an adverse effect and only increase risks for civilians stranded in war zones and those who will one day return.” their cities, towns, and farms”.