DanChurchAid
Humanitarian Mine Action
Israel must not use indiscriminate weapons
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| Iraqui boy who was a victim of the use of cluster munitions in the Iraq war in 2003. |
On 24 July 2006 Human Rights Watch (HRW) confirmed that Israel has used artillery-fired cluster munitions in populated areas of Lebanon.
HRW researchers on the ground in Lebanon confirmed that a cluster munitions attack on the village of Blida on July 19 killed one and wounded at least 12 civilians, including seven children.
It has been demonstrated in other conflicts, most recently in Iraq in 2003, that cluster munitions are inaccurate and unreliable weapons that pose unacceptable dangers to civilians both during attacks, due to their wide, unguided dispersal, and afterward, due to the many hazardous landmine-like duds they leave behind.
There is growing international momentum to stop the use of cluster munitions. Belgium became the first country to ban cluster munitions in February 2006 and Norway announced a moratorium on the weapon in June 2006. Cluster munitions are increasingly the focus of discussion at the meetings of the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW), with ever more states calling for a new international instrument dealing with cluster munitions.
DanChurchAid is a member of the Steering Committee of the Cluster Munition Coalition and calls upon Israel to stop the use of these unacceptable unreliable and inaccurate weapons.
More information
Read more on the Cluster Munition Coalition website and/or contact Eva Veble, Programme Officer at the DCA Humaitarian Mine Action Unit, email: evv@dca.dk or mobile: +45 2969 9138.
