How do cluster munitions work? What threats do they pose? What does the 2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions prohibit and require? What needs to happen now?

Following an emergency UN Security Council meeting on the Russia-Ukraine war, Louis Charbonneau and Rachel Denber discuss HRW’s investigation into war crimes and human rights abuses.

(Berlin, March 16, 2022)— Russian forces repeatedly fired cluster munitions into the densely populated city of Mykolaiv, in southern Ukraine, during three separate attacks on March 7, 11, and 13, Human Rights Watch said today. The attack on March 13 reportedly killed nine civilians, who were apparently queuing at a cash machine. The three attacks also injured several other civilians and damaged a hospital, homes, businesses, and civilian vehicles. “Multiple residential areas in Mykolaiv were rocked by cluster munition attacks in the span of a week,” said Steve Goose, Arms Director of Human Rights Watch. “Russian forces should cease the use of cluster munitions and end these clearly indiscriminate attacks.”

Indiscriminate Attacks May Amount to War Crimes

4 Civilians Killed, 10 Wounded

Investigate Alleged Indiscriminate Attacks, Use of Explosive Weapons

Syrian government and Russian forces have escalated their airstrikes on Eastern Ghouta, a suburb approximately 15 kilometers from the center of Syria’s capital Damascus, killing dozens of civilians in apparently unlawful attacks.

Meet the investigators behind Human Rights Watch's work. "These people live with fear all their lives. They have no place to go. I have to tell their story."

The Russian-Syrian coalition committed war crimes during a month-long aerial bombing campaign of opposition-controlled territory in Aleppo in September and October 2016.

The United States, United Kingdom, France and others should suspend all weapon sales to Saudi Arabia until it not only curtails its unlawful airstrikes in Yemen but also credibly investigates alleged violations.