Question of: Restrictions on the use of cluster munitions

Transcription

1 Committee: Disarmament Question of: Restrictions on the use of cluster munitions Chair: Alan Lai Position: Head Chair

2 Introduction Currently, there are over 30 conflicts happening across the world that has led to over 100 deaths in the current or past year. Though most of the conflicts are between two local parties, sometimes the scale is much greater, for example the Yemeni war and the War against ISIS.

3 Map of Current Conflicts (June 2015)

4 Introduction These large scale wars typically have negative effects on the world economy and the stability of the area, so larger countries often try and interfere by use of long-range missiles and a large arsenal of weapons. One of these weapons is cluster munitions.

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6 Definition of Key Terms Cluster Munitions: According to the UN, a conventional munition that is designed to disperse or release explosive submunitions each weighing less than 20 kilograms, and includes those explosive submunitions.

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8 Definition of Key Terms Civilians: According to the International Committee of the Red Cross Civilians are persons who are not members of the armed forces. The civilian population comprises all persons who are civilians.

9 Definition of Key Terms Dud: A dud is an ammunition round or explosive that fails to fire or detonate, respectively, on time or on command Dud rate: The percentage of unexploded submunitions from cluster munitions Stockpile: to accumulate for future use; put or store in a stockpile.

10 Topic Summary/Overview Cluster munitions, first built and used by Germany during World War II, are a type of explosive weapon still used today and are typically deployed to bomb a large area. Each bomb releases many more smaller bombs, known as submunitions, that spread over a large area, with an area of effect of up to 0.23 km². There are two main issues with the use of cluster munitions.

11 Wide Area of Effect

12 Topic Summary/Overview The first issue is the large area of effect. Most of the time targets of the cluster munitions are in isolated regions. However, sometimes the targets are near civilian areas. With the unpredictable spread of the submunitions, the cluster munitions have a very high chance of exploding within range of civilians, killing them.

13 Topic Summary/Overview The second issue is of duds, or unexploded submunitions. Duds are often left on the ground as they are expensive to dispose of. Children or unknowing civilians may accidentally come into contact with the duds, causing the duds to explode. The dud rate is around 15%, but with hundreds of submunitions for each cluster munition, the number of duds is astronomical.

14 Dud - Unexploded Cluster Bomb

15 Topic Summary/Overview Deaths from cluster munitions duds are still happening today. In Vietnam around 300 people are killed annually. More than a third of the 270 million cluster submunitions dropped on Laos have yet to explode and still pose a threat today.

16 Topic Summary/Overview From the number of civilian deaths and the long lasting effects, many parties see the need to heavily restrict the use of cluster munitions. Some parties even go to such an extreme as to opt for the banning of cluster munitions.

17 Major Parties Involved Vietnam: Though it is heavily influenced by the cluster munitions, with up to 300 people dying by cluster munition duds every year, it has not yet ratified the Convention on Cluster Munitions, which will be explained later.

18 Major Parties Involved Laos: The only country in ASEAN to ratify the Convention on Cluster Munitions. It heavily advocates against the use of cluster munitions, as it is one of the most bombed countries on earth, with over 90 million duds left from the 1960s and the 1970s.

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20 Major Parties Involved USA: The USA advocates the use of cluster munitions as it is effective and cheaper to alternatives, and claims it is essential for national security. It claims that the next best alternative to achieve the effect of cluster munitions would cost nine times as much. However, it is doing research in order to lower the dud rate to below 1%.

21 Timeline World War II: German SD-2 cluster munition invented, used to attack both civilian and military targets Subsequent to World War II: The USA, Italy, and Russia independently developed their own cluster munitions weapons

22 Timeline 1955~1975: USA used cluster bomb airstrikes against targets in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. 1982: UK dropped cluster bombs on Argentinian positions during the Falklands war

23 Timeline 1999: US, UK, and the Netherlands dropped around 2000 cluster bombs on Yugoslavia. At least 23 civilians were directly killed, 6 were killed by duds in subsequent years, and now a total of 23 km² area remains cluster contaminated, meaning there is a high density of duds.

24 Timeline 2001~2002: USA and other NATO nations drop 1,228 cluster bombs on Afghanistan 2003~2006: USA and its allies drops 13,000 cluster bombs on Iraq 2008: Convention on Cluster Munitions (CCM) adopted and opened for signature

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26 Timeline Other instances of use include: 2008: Georgia 2011: Libya 2012: Syria 2013: South Sudan 2015: Yemen

27 UN Involvement For the benefit and the safety of the civilians, generally the UN discourages the use of cluster munitions. The Convention on Cluster Munitions is an international treaty that prohibits the use, transfer, and stockpile of cluster bombs.

28 Convention on Cluster Munitions (CCM) The convention was adopted on May Countries that ratify the convention will be obliged "never under any circumstances to": (a) Use cluster munitions; (b) Develop, produce, otherwise acquire, stockpile, retain or transfer to anyone, directly or indirectly, cluster munitions; (c) Assist, encourage or induce anyone to engage in any activity prohibited to a State Party under this Convention.

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30 CCM Permitted weapons must contain fewer than ten submunitions, and each must weigh more than 4 kilograms (8.8 lb), and each submunition must have the capability to detect and engage a single target object and contain electronic self-destruct and self-deactivation mechanisms.

31 CCM To date, there are 92 countries that have ratified or acceded the treaty. However, it is important to know that major military powers such as USA, Russia, and the People s Republic of China have not yet ratified the treaty.

32 Countries that have ratified CCM in purple Countries that have signed CCM in blue

33 Possible Solutions An obvious solution to this problem would be to provide incentives for all nations to ratify the CCM. Another method would be to restrict the amount of cluster munitions that will be allowed to be produced by non-ratifying nations

34 Possible Solutions Because an important problem is with the dud rate, a possible restriction would be to only permit the use of cluster munitions with less than a certain percentage dud rate. This would ensure that there would be less collateral damage due to duds.

35 Possible Solutions Restricting or even prohibiting the use of cluster munitions near civilian areas, and only allowing use in isolated regions/regions far from civilian populations. Such areas are to be determined by the UN.

36 Bibliography Eaton, Daysha (6 June 2010). "In Vietnam, cluster bombs still plague countryside". GlobalPost (Boston, MA). Retrieved 9 June "Meeting the Challenge I. The Technological Evolution and Early Proliferation and Use of Cluster Munitions". Human Rights Watch. November 22, Retrieved October 27, Riordan, Kevin. Convention on Cluster Munitions. Rep. United Nations, May Web. 9 June < United Nations Treaty Collection: Convention on Cluster Munitions. August June "UNOG - The United Nations Office at Geneva." Where Global Solutions Are Shaped for You. United Nations Office at Geneva, n.d. Web. 08 June < "UNTC." UNTC. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 June < "What Is a Cluster Bomb?" Cluster Munition Coalition. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 June <