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Stop Human Rights Abuses
  • Georgia/Russia: A Year Later, Justice Still Needed
    Oct 1, 2009

    The international community should press Georgia and Russia to bring to justice those who violated the laws of war, causing many civilian deaths and injuries and widespread destruction of civilian property in last summer’s short but deadly conflict. As an EU-funded independent, international fact-finding mission on the conflict in Georgia published its report on September 30, 2009, the lack of accountability is striking.

  • Germany Ratifies Cluster Munitions Treaty
    Jul 10, 2009

    Germany’s ratification of the new treaty banning cluster munitions is an important step.

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Cluster Munitions

Cluster munitions are inaccurate and unreliable weapons that by their very nature pose unacceptable dangers to civilians.  They pose an immediate threat during conflict by randomly scattering thousands of submunitions or "bomblets" over a vast area, and they continue to take even more civilian lives and limbs long after a conflict has ended, as hundreds of submunitions may fail to explode upon impact, littering the landscape with landmine-like "duds." Over 100 countries have responded to this humanitarian threat by signing the 2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions, an international treaty prohibiting the use, production, stockpiling, and transfer of cluster munitions. The treaty requires destruction of stockpiles of the weapon within eight years and clearance of affected areas within 10 years, and it establishes a strong framework for assistance to cluster munition victims. Human Rights Watch is campaigning to ensure that more states join the Convention on Cluster Munitions and that it is implemented without delay.

Read more about which states have taken action to eliminate cluster munitions in Banning Cluster Munitions: Government Policy and Practice.

Reports

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Cluster Munitions
  • Cluster Munition Information Chart
    Nov 20, 2009

    The chart shows which states have stockpiled, produced, used, and been affected by cluster munitions and which states have signed and ratified the 2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions (CCM).

  • Statement to the 2009 Meeting of States Parties to the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW)
    Nov 13, 2009

    It will be counter-productive to agree to a new protocol that sets far lower standards than the Convention on Cluster Munitions. Instead, we urge states that are not yet ready to join the Convention on Cluster Munitions to consider, on the international level, the option of a politically-binding declaration that commits them to undertake measures of humanitarian benefit.

  • Georgia/Russia: A Year Later, Justice Still Needed
    Oct 1, 2009

    The international community should press Georgia and Russia to bring to justice those who violated the laws of war, causing many civilian deaths and injuries and widespread destruction of civilian property in last summer’s short but deadly conflict. As an EU-funded independent, international fact-finding mission on the conflict in Georgia published its report on September 30, 2009, the lack of accountability is striking.

  • Will Arab States help end the Scourge of Cluster Munitions?
    Aug 6, 2009

    Back in 2006, Israel's profligate use of cluster munitions in Lebanon caught the public eye, nowhere more so than in the Arab world.

  • Germany Ratifies Cluster Munitions Treaty
    Jul 10, 2009

    Germany’s ratification of the new treaty banning cluster munitions is an important step.

  • Stockpiling and Destruction of Cluster Munitions: A Global Overview
    Jun 25, 2009

    At least 32 signatories to the Convention on Cluster Munitions and at least 48 non-signatories possess stockpiles of cluster munitions. This presentation provides an overview of which states stockpile the weapon, focusing on the number and type of cluster munitions stockpiled by signatory states.

  • Make No Exceptions to Ban on Cluster Munitions
    Jun 24, 2009

    The Convention on Cluster Munitions clearly permits joint military operations, but countries that have joined the treaty should prohibit all assistance with using cluster munitions. They should remember the purpose behind the treaty they negotiated and make no exceptions.

  • Staying True to the Ban on Cluster Munitions
    Jun 22, 2009

    To meet the object and purpose of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, states implementing and interpreting the convention should prohibit assisting anyone with the use, production, transfer, and stockpiling of cluster munitions in any situation, including in joint military operations.

  • No Loophole in Cluster Munitions Ban
    Jun 22, 2009

    Countries that have signed the new treaty banning cluster munitions should not in any way facilitate the use of this weapon, even in joint military operations with allies that have not joined the treaty.

  • US Out of Step on Cluster Bomb Ban
    May 29, 2009

    The prohibition on cluster munitions is firmly taking hold as more countries join the new treaty banning the weapon and hold-out states shift their policies in the right direction, says a report jointly released today by Human Rights Watch, Landmine Action, and Landmine Monitor.

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