Coalition Urges US to Cancel Cluster Munitions Deal

By Staff, Agencies

A broad coalition of human rights groups, anti-war campaigners, and Christian organizations is urging Washington to cancel a planned $210 million purchase of next-generation cluster munitions from an “Israeli” manufacturer, warning of the “severe, foreseeable dangers” such weapons pose to civilians, according to Responsible Statecraft.

In an open letter shared with the outlet, the groups argued that cluster munitions “disperse submunitions across broad areas, making it exceedingly difficult to confine their impact to lawful military targets.”

Expanding US stockpiles, they said, would place Washington “dramatically out of step with civilian protection practices.”

“These weapons’ humanitarian impacts vastly outweigh any possible tactical benefit that they provide,” said Ursala Knudsen-Latta of the Friends Committee on National Legislation, one of the signatories.
“Unfortunately, it is really sowing seeds of terror for generations to come anywhere they are used,” she added.

The purchase, first reported by The Intercept, signals what critics describe as a weakening global consensus against the use and stockpiling of cluster munitions.

Years of advocacy, backed by research documenting the long-term risks posed by unexploded bomblets, helped drive the adoption of the Convention on Cluster Munitions in 2010.