Responding to reports that the Biden Administration is planning to transfer cluster munitions to the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Daniel Balson, Amnesty International USA’s Advocacy Director for Europe and Central Asia said:
“Amnesty International USA opposes this proposed move. Cluster munitions are an indiscriminate weapon that presents a grave threat to civilian lives, even long after a conflict has ended. Their transfer and use by any country under any circumstances is incompatible with international law.”
“The Biden Administration must understand that any decision enabling the broader use of cluster bombs in this war will likely lead to one predictable outcome: the further death of civilians.”
“The Convention on Cluster Munitions, which entered into force on August 1 2010, and has over 100 states parties, bans the use, production, stockpiling and transfer of cluster munitions. The strong global consensus against these devastating and inherently indiscriminate weapons is no accident. Many systems have an extraordinarily high “dud” rate, up to 20 percent, contaminating large areas with ordnance for years or even decades.”
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