Before the meeting of representatives of the countries that signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions, experts published a report that says that 95% of the victims of such weapons are civilians, writes the Associated Press. Therefore, human rights activist Mary Wareham calls the US decision to supply cluster bombs to Ukraine “unconscionable.”
Representatives of 112 countries that have joined the Convention on Cluster Munitions are scheduled to meet next week, according to the Associated Press. This organization fights to ban this type of weapon and to clear territories of such bombs.
Before the meeting, human rights activists prepared and published an annual report on the consequences of the use of cluster bombs. It presents evidence of how damage from these bombs is caused not only to the military, but also to the civilian population. In particular, according to experts, last year cluster munitions affected about 1172 people in eight countries: Azerbaijan, Iraq, Laos, Lebanon, Myanmar, Syria, Ukraine and Yemen. At the same time, 95% of them are civilians. And 71% of all victims are children.
Human rights activists, however, have noted the successes of Bulgaria, Peru and Slovakia in destroying their stockpiles of cluster munitions.
Mary Wareham of Human Rights Watch said they are “extremely concerned” about the U.S. decision to supply thousands of cluster munitions to Ukraine. Among other things, they fear that this move will weaken international support for this convention.
Mary Wareham called the US decision to supply cluster bombs to Ukraine “unconscionable”. According to her, this event indicates a setback in the work of the coalition formed around the Convention on Cluster Munitions, but this is “not the end”.