{"id":43984,"date":"2023-09-17T06:35:53","date_gmt":"2023-09-17T14:35:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/?p=43984"},"modified":"2023-09-17T06:35:53","modified_gmt":"2023-09-17T14:35:53","slug":"as-us-sends-cluster-munitions-to-ukraine-three-more-countries-destroy-stockpiles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/2023\/09\/17\/as-us-sends-cluster-munitions-to-ukraine-three-more-countries-destroy-stockpiles\/","title":{"rendered":"As US Sends Cluster Munitions to Ukraine, Three More Countries Destroy Stockpiles"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>As the U.S. gives <a class=\"rm-stats-tracked\" href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/tag\/cluster-bombs\">cluster bombs<\/a> to Ukraine\u2014and as the Biden administration reportedly moves to send longer-range missiles armed with them to Kyiv\u2014three nations this week said they&#8217;ve finished destroying their stockpiles of the internationally banned weapons amid renewed calls for more countries to join the Convention on Cluster Munitions.<\/p>\n<p>The <a class=\"rm-stats-tracked\" href=\"https:\/\/www.clusterconvention.org\/11msp-int\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">11th meeting<\/a> of parties to the 2008 <a class=\"rm-stats-tracked\" href=\"https:\/\/www.clusterconvention.org\/convention-text\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Convention on Cluster Munitions<\/a> (CCM), to which 112 nations are party, wrapped up Thursday in Geneva on a high note as Bulgaria, Slovakia, and South Africa announced that they have completed the destruction of a combined 9,582 bombs and 585,422 bomblets. South Africa is the only country that once possessed but gave up both <a class=\"rm-stats-tracked\" href=\"https:\/\/world101.cfr.org\/global-era-issues\/nuclear-proliferation\/south-africa-why-countries-acquire-and-abandon-nuclear\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">nuclear weapons<\/a> and cluster bombs.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Countries that have joined the Convention on Cluster Munitions have repeatedly demonstrated their commitment to destroy their stockpiles, clear remnants, and oppose the weapon&#8217;s use,&#8221; <a class=\"rm-stats-tracked\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hrw.org\/news\/2023\/09\/14\/cluster-munitions-gains-stockpile-destruction-clearance\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">said<\/a> Human Rights Watch acting arms director Mary Wareham, who played a key role in the CCM&#8217;s success.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">This week Bulgaria, Slovakia &amp; South Africa formally completed their obligation to destroy cluster munition stocks, destroying a combined total of 9,582 cluster munitions + 585,422 submunitions &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hrw?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@hrw<\/a>: <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/kRYF0AATRR\">https:\/\/t.co\/kRYF0AATRR<\/a> \ud83d\udcf8\ud83c\udde7\ud83c\uddec <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ISUCCM?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@isuccm<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/CCM11MSP?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#CCM11MSP<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/GoodNews?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#GoodNews<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/tb7jZuBsLm\">pic.twitter.com\/tb7jZuBsLm<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Mary Wareham (@marywareham) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/marywareham\/status\/1702360105612611965?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">September 14, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<div class=\"rm-col-center col sm-mb-1\">\n<div class=\"widget__body clearfix sm-mt-1\">\n<div class=\"body js-expandable clearfix js-listicle-body css-listicle-body-2665440603\">\n<div class=\"body-description\">\n<p>&#8220;The main concern remains with countries unwilling to ban the weapon that may continue to use them now or start using them in the future,&#8221; added Wareham, who was also jointly awarded the <a class=\"rm-stats-tracked\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nobelprize.org\/prizes\/peace\/1997\/summary\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">1997 Nobel Peace Prize<\/a> for her work with the International Campaign to Ban Landmines.<\/p>\n<p>As <em>Common Dreams<\/em> <a class=\"rm-stats-tracked\" href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/news\/cluster-bombs-2022\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">reported<\/a> earlier this month, the refusal of countries including Russia, Ukraine, and the United States to end the use and transfer of cluster munitions caused nearly 1,000 civilian casualties last year.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Countries that have not banned cluster munitions should heed the call of the United Nations secretary-general and join the convention without delay,&#8221; Wareham asserted.<\/p>\n<p>A youth contingent of the advocacy group Mine Action Fellows, members of which attended the Geneva meeting, said in a <a class=\"rm-stats-tracked\" href=\"https:\/\/mailchi.mp\/icblcmc\/press-release-ccm11msp\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">statement<\/a> that &#8220;while we have much to celebrate, we cannot ignore the harm done by states not party and the escalation in deaths from cluster munitions.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Producing, using, and transferring cluster munitions by any actor, under any circumstance is unacceptable,&#8221; the group added. &#8220;We call for an immediate stop to the transfer and use of this indiscriminate weapon.&#8221;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Last day of the <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/CCM11MSP?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#CCM11MSP<\/a>! Stay tuned for our Mine Action Fellows Youth statement to be delivered today. <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MinesActionCan?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@MinesActionCan<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/EQuLZxDZTQ\">pic.twitter.com\/EQuLZxDZTQ<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Ban Cluster Bombs (@banclusterbombs) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/banclusterbombs\/status\/1702233708080627893?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">September 14, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>The remarks from Wareham and Mine Action Fellows came as the Biden administration is <a class=\"rm-stats-tracked\" href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/us-eyes-long-range-missiles-armed-with-cluster-bombs-ukraine-officials-2023-09-11\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">reportedly<\/a> close to approving the shipment of longer-range ballistic missiles armed with cluster munitions to Ukrainian forces defending their country from a 19-month Russian invasion. This, after the U.S. <a class=\"rm-stats-tracked\" href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/news\/biden-cluster-bombs\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">began sending<\/a> 155mm artillery shells to Kyiv earlier this summer. Russian and Ukrainian forces have <a class=\"rm-stats-tracked\" href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/news\/2022\/03\/30\/living-nightmare-un-says-russia-used-cluster-bombs-ukraine-least-24-times\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">both killed and wounded<\/a> soldiers and civilians with cluster bombs during the war.<\/p>\n<p>Earlier this month, the U.S. also started <a class=\"rm-stats-tracked\" href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/news\/us-to-begin-sending-controversial-depleted-uranium-shells-to-ukraine\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">sending<\/a> Ukraine depleted uranium munitions, which have been <a class=\"rm-stats-tracked\" href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/life-style\/health-and-families\/health-news\/iraq-records-huge-rise-in-birth-defects-8210444.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">linked<\/a> to birth defects, miscarriages, and cancers after their use by U.S. forces in Iraq and Yugoslavia.<\/p>\n<p>Multiple congressional efforts to prohibit the export of U.S. cluster munitions to any country have failed to advance. Earlier this summer, the Republican-controlled House Rules Committee <a class=\"rm-stats-tracked\" href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/news\/republicans-cluster-munitions\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">voted down<\/a> a resolution <a class=\"rm-stats-tracked\" href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/news\/cluster-munitions-amendment\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">proposed<\/a> by Reps. <a class=\"rm-stats-tracked\" href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/tag\/ilhan-omar\">Ilhan Omar<\/a> (D-Minn.) and Sara Jacobs (D-Calif.), while backing a new one led by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.)\u2014whose controversial sponsorship doomed the measure.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Reps. Jacobs &amp; Omar unleash plans to stop WH cluster munitions to Ukraine \/\/\/\u201cIf the U.S. is going to be a leader on international human rights, we must not participate in human rights abuses.\u201d<a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/WdL00B7c2t\">https:\/\/t.co\/WdL00B7c2t<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Katrina vandenHeuvel (@KatrinaNation) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/KatrinaNation\/status\/1678143131315740672?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 9, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>The latest effort to thwart the transfer of cluster bombs is an <a class=\"rm-stats-tracked\" href=\"https:\/\/amendments-rules.house.gov\/amendments\/GAETZ_188_xml230830110534329.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">amendment<\/a> spearheaded by Jacobs and Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), with Reps. Jes\u00fas &#8220;Chuy&#8221; Garc\u00eda (D-Ill.), <a class=\"rm-stats-tracked\" href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/tag\/barbara-lee\">Barbara Lee<\/a> (D-Calif.), Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), Jim McGovern (D-Mass.), Andrea Salinas (D-Ore.), <a class=\"rm-stats-tracked\" href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/tag\/Rashida-Tlaib\">Rashida Tlaib<\/a> (D-Mich.), and Jill Tokuda (D-Hawaii) as co-sponsors.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Sending cluster munitions anywhere in the world makes the United States complicit in the unavoidable and inevitable civilian harm that follows,&#8221; Jacobs <a class=\"rm-stats-tracked\" href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2023\/09\/14\/ukraine-cluster-bombs-us-transfer\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">told<\/a><em>The Intercept<\/em> on Thursday. &#8220;No amount of guardrails or promised precautions are enough because these weapons are unpredictable and maim and kill indiscriminately\u2014potentially years after their intended use.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Claiming that the U.S. &#8220;has a strong reputation for upholding human rights around the world,&#8221; Jacobs added that &#8220;that message is muddied when we&#8217;re willing to send these weapons that are infamous for the carnage they cause.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Since the end of the Vietnam War, unexploded cluster munitions\u2014which can look like inviting toys to children who find them\u2014have <a class=\"rm-stats-tracked\" href=\"https:\/\/reliefweb.int\/report\/lao-peoples-democratic-republic\/mag-removes-300000th-unexploded-bomb-laos\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">killed<\/a> approximately 20,000 civilians in Laos, where the U.S. <a class=\"rm-stats-tracked\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thecollector.com\/war-in-laos-most-heavily-bombed-country-in-history\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">dropped more bombs<\/a> than all sides in World War II combined. The U.S. dropped as many as 270 million cluster bombs on Laos, and less than 1% of the unexploded bomblets have been cleared since. They are <a class=\"rm-stats-tracked\" href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2023\/07\/11\/1186949348\/us-cluster-munitions-civilian-casualties-laos\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">still killing civilians<\/a> to this day.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><i>Brett Wilkins is is staff writer for\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/\">Common Dreams<\/a>. Based in San Francisco, his work covers issues of social justice, human rights and war and peace. This originally appeared at\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/\">CommonDreams<\/a>\u00a0and is reprinted with the author\u2019s permission.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As the U.S. gives cluster bombs to Ukraine\u2014and as the Biden administration reportedly moves to send longer-range missiles armed with them to Kyiv\u2014three nations this week said they&#8217;ve finished destroying their stockpiles of the internationally banned weapons amid renewed calls for more countries to join the Convention on Cluster Munitions. The 11th meeting of parties [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":372,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-43984","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"meta_box":{"disable_donate_message":"","custom_donate_message":"","subtitle":"Nobel laureate Mary Wareham admonished nonsignatories to the Convention on Cluster Munitions to join \"without delay\" as Bulgaria, Slovakia, and South Africa said they have dismantled their arsenals."},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43984","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/372"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43984"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43984\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43986,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43984\/revisions\/43986"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43984"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43984"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43984"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=43984"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}