• 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." Governments responded to this humanitarian threat by creating 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 also establishes a strong framework for assistance to cluster munition victims. More than 110 states have joined the Convention on Cluster Munitions and are working to implement its provisions. Human Rights Watch is campaigning to ensure that more states join the Convention on Cluster Munitions and that it is implemented strongly and without delay.
    Read more about which states have taken action to eliminate cluster munitions in Cluster Munition Monitor. 
     

  • Syria: New Air, Missile Strikes Kill Civilians
    Apr 26, 2013
    New Syrian government air and missile strikes are causing high civilian casualties in opposition-controlled areas of Aleppo in violation of the laws of war. A Human Rights Watch team in northern Aleppo province has investigated recent attacks that killed scores of civilians and destroyed dozens of civilian homes without damaging any apparent opposition military targets.
  • Syria: Aerial Attacks Strike Civilians
    Apr 10, 2013
    The Syrian Air Force has repeatedly carried out indiscriminate, and in some cases deliberate, air strikes against civilians. These attacks are serious violations of international humanitarian law (the laws of war), and people who commit such violations with criminal intent are responsible for war crimes.
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Reports

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Cluster Munitions

  • UN Human Rights Council: Interactive Dialogue with the Commission of Inquiry on Syria
    Jun 4, 2013
    Human Rights Watch is deeply concerned by the escalating level of violence in Syria.In particular, we express grave concern for the safety of the remaining civilian population in al-Qusayr as well as wounded and captured fighters on all sides. Local opposition activists told Human Rights Watch that recent government attacks on fleeing civilians, including a reported attack on May 31, have made it difficult to escape and put remaining civilians, including many wounded, at great risk.
  • Syria: New Air, Missile Strikes Kill Civilians
    Apr 26, 2013
    New Syrian government air and missile strikes are causing high civilian casualties in opposition-controlled areas of Aleppo in violation of the laws of war. A Human Rights Watch team in northern Aleppo province has investigated recent attacks that killed scores of civilians and destroyed dozens of civilian homes without damaging any apparent opposition military targets.
  • Why So Many Syrians Wish For Rain
    Apr 16, 2013
    Life in Aleppo is not easy. People here have suffered from shortages of food, electricity and running water, and there has been little humanitarian assistance. The long, cold winter months were particularly rough. The only possible consolation was that there were fewer air strikes because of the cloudy, rainy weather. The government’s jets only seem to fly – and drop bombs – when the sky is blue.
  • Syria: Aerial Attacks Strike Civilians
    Apr 10, 2013
    The Syrian Air Force has repeatedly carried out indiscriminate, and in some cases deliberate, air strikes against civilians. These attacks are serious violations of international humanitarian law (the laws of war), and people who commit such violations with criminal intent are responsible for war crimes.
  • Syria: Mounting Casualties from Cluster Munitions
    Mar 16, 2013

    Syrian forces’ use of cluster munitionsin residential areas is causing mounting civilian casualties. An initial review of available information has identified at least 119 locations across Syriawhere at least 156 cluster bombs have been used in the past six months.  

  • Joint letter to protest the use of cluster bombs in Syria
    Feb 1, 2013
    We, the citizens of Japan, deeply regret that a large number of Syrian citizens have been victimized in the recent conflict that has been escalating since March 2011. We hope the conflict to end promptly without further sacrifice in our friendly nation of Syria.
  • The gruesome toll of deadly cluster bombs in Syria
    Jan 16, 2013

    It was cloudy the afternoon of January 3 when residents say the cluster bombs fell on the Syrian town of Latamneh. Three rockets containing the cluster munitions fell in nearby fields, apparently doing no harm, but a fourth landed on the street between residential buildings. Its impact was devastating.

  • Syria: Army Using New Type of Cluster Munition
    Jan 14, 2013

    Syrian forces are using notoriously indiscriminate rockets that contain explosive submunitions. Evidence indicates that Syrian forces used BM-21 Grad multi-barrel rocket launchers to deliver cluster munitions in attacks near the city of Idlib in December 2012 and in Latamneh, a town northwest of Hama, on January 3, 2013.

  • Syria: Evidence Shows Cluster Bombs Killed Children
    Nov 27, 2012
    Compelling evidence has emerged that an airstrike using cluster bombs on the town of Deir al-`Assafeer near Damascus killed at least 11 children and wounded others on November 25, 2012
  • Advancing Humanitarian Disarmament
    Oct 26, 2012
    The success of the mine ban and cluster munitions treaties show that civil society support is essential to any effort aimed at tackling disarmament challenges from a humanitarian perspective.
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