Arms
Many urgent arms-related challenges should be addressed to protect civilians affected by conflict and its deadly legacy. Antipersonnel landmines and cluster munitions have been prohibited outright, but the ban treaties need to be universalized and complied with fully. Militaries use a wide-range of explosive weapons—artillery, rockets, mortars, air-delivered bombs and more—in populated areas, frequently causing indiscriminate harm to civilians. Incendiary weapons cause painful and cruel injuries, yet they continue to be used. The development of fully autonomous weapons—“killer robots”—that could select and engage targets without human intervention need to be stopped to prevent a future of warfare and policing outside of human control and responsibility. The Arms Division of Human Rights Watch works to advance humanitarian disarmament and enhance protections for civilians from various weapons that inflict unnecessary harm. We document the negative impact of weapons and promote the establishment and implementation of international treaties and legal norms.
-
Europe/Central Asia
December 15, 2020
-
-
Armenia: Unlawful Rocket, Missile Strikes on Azerbaijan
Investigate Indiscriminate Attacks, Use of Explosive Weapons in Populated Areas
-
Azerbaijan: Unlawful Strikes in Nagorno-Karabakh
Investigate Alleged Indiscriminate Attacks, Use of Explosive Weapons
-
“They Burn Through Everything”
The Human Cost of Incendiary Weapons and the Limits of International Law
News
-
-
-
-
Armenia: Unlawful Rocket, Missile Strikes on Azerbaijan
Investigate Indiscriminate Attacks, Use of Explosive Weapons in Populated Areas
-
Azerbaijan: Unlawful Strikes in Nagorno-Karabakh
Investigate Alleged Indiscriminate Attacks, Use of Explosive Weapons
-
Statement on National Implementation Measures to the Convention on Cluster Munitions Second Review Conference
Delivered by Bonnie Docherty, Senior Researcher
-
Statement on Compliance, Convention on Cluster Munitions Second Review Conference
Authored by Steve Goose, Executive Director
-
Statement to the Convention on Cluster Munitions Second Review Conference
Delivered by Steve Goose, Executive Director
-
Cluster Munitions: Condemn New Use, Production
Annual Monitor Report Details Adherence to Ban Treaty
-
-
Statement to the Mine Ban Treaty Eighteenth Meeting of States Parties
Delivered by Steve Goose, Executive Director
-