biggest victims in Ukraine

The number of reported victims of cluster munitions has fallen significantly in the past year. However, this is due to the fact that not all cases are registered and reported in conflict zones, reports the human rights organization Human Rights Watch (HRW), which wrote the Danish cluster munitions report.

219 people were reported killed or injured by cluster munitions, 47 percent of them minors. A year earlier, the figure was more than 1,000. The majority of victims were in Ukraine for the second year in a row, the report says. However, there is no exact number. Both Russian and Ukrainian forces, believed to be from the USA, had used the munitions.

What is cluster munition?

Cluster munitions are the name given to many smaller explosive devices that are fired in containers from aircraft and rocket launchers. They are usually distributed randomly and over a large area and explode. Many also end up in the ground as unexploded bombs and kill or injure people years later. The vast majority of victims are civilians.

The Convention on the Prohibition of Cluster Munitions (Oslo Convention) came into force in 2010. It has been ratified by more than 110 states. The convention includes a categorical ban on the use, development, production, stockpiling and transfer of cluster munitions.

Criticism of Germany

Human Rights Watch (HRW) criticizes Germany because the US armed forces transported their cluster munitions stored here through Germany last year and sent them to Ukraine, as documented by the Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR).

“All members of the Convention should speak out clearly against the storage of cluster munitions abroad and against the transit of cluster munitions through their territory, airspace or waters,” demanded HRW. Germany is a state party to the Convention, the USA, Ukraine and Russia are not.

Only ten States Parties still retain operational cluster munitions for study and training purposes, and Germany has the largest quantity of them.

28 countries contaminated with leftover ammunition

According to the report, cluster munitions were also used in Myanmar and Syria last year. 28 countries and territories are believed to be partially contaminated with this munition. 83 square kilometers of land were cleared last year, and a good 73,000 pieces of munitions or munition remnants were destroyed. HRW wrote the report for the International Campaign Against Landmines and Cluster Munitions (ICBL-CMC).