The US wants to supply cluster munitions to Ukraine for its counter-offensive against Russia – a highly controversial decision. Because cluster bombs are considered to be particularly insidious, pose a great danger to civilians and have therefore been banned by more than a hundred countries worldwide. Cluster bombs can be dropped from aircraft or fired from the ground with rocket launchers. Their containers open in the air and release dozens or even hundreds of explosive devices, so-called bomblets or submunitions, over large areas.
The problem: Not only are high-explosive bombs very imprecise. Many explosive devices do not detonate on impact. These duds therefore pose a danger to civilians even years or decades after the end of a conflict. Children playing or farmers working in the fields can be killed or seriously injured by such duds, similar to land mines. It is estimated that around 97 percent of cluster bomb victims are civilians.
Cluster bombs were first used in World War II and were used in dozens of countries over the following decades. These include Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon, the former Yugoslavia, Syria, Cambodia and Vietnam. Over the decades, it is estimated that tens of thousands of people have been killed by cluster munitions. An international agreement adopted in 2008 and which came into force in 2010 – the so-called Oslo Convention – prohibits the production, stockpiling, use and transfer of cluster munitions. To date, 111 countries worldwide have ratified the international treaty. Twelve other countries have signed the agreement but have not yet ratified it.
Germany, which previously had very large stockpiles of cluster munitions, ratified the Oslo Convention in 2009. The destruction of Germany’s stockpiles of cluster munitions was completed in 2015. However, large states such as the USA and China are not among the signatories to the agreement, nor are Russia and Ukraine. In the Ukraine war, both warring parties used cluster munitions. This is recorded, among other things, in reports by the United Nations and the human rights organization Human Rights Watch.
The planned delivery of US cluster munitions to Ukraine caused criticism even before the official announcement. “It would be escalating, counterproductive and would only increase the dangers to civilians who are trapped in combat zones or who will one day return to their cities and farms,” said the executive director of the US non-governmental organization Arms Control Association. , Daryl Kimball. The US maintains that the cluster munitions destined for Ukraine contain very few duds. US President Joe Biden’s National Security Advisor, Jake Sullivan, spoke on Friday of a share of “at most 2.5 percent”. With Russian cluster munitions, on the other hand, “between 30 and 40 percent” of the explosive devices would not detonate immediately.
