news.un.org
2024-09-10
Civilians accounted for 93 per cent of the global casualties from cluster munitions in 2023, according to the 100-page Cluster Munition Monitor 2024, produced by the Cluster Munition Coalition, an international civil society group working in over 100 countries.
Children made up nearly half of all people killed and injured by cluster munition remnants in 2023
"Actions by countries that have not banned cluster munitions are putting civilians at risk and threatening the integrity and universality of the international treaty prohibiting these abhorrent weapons," said Tamar Gabelnick, director of the Cluster Munition Coalition, which will present the report to the 12th Meeting of States parties to the Convention on Cluster Munitions at the UN in Geneva on 10 to 13 September.
Indeed, children made up nearly half of all people killed and injured by cluster munition remnants in 2023, and attacks also had direct and devastating impacts on civilian objects, including schools and hospitals, according to the report.
"It is imperative that all countries join the Convention on Cluster Munitions and help fulfil its goal of putting an end to suffering and casualties caused by cluster munitions," Mr. Gabelnick said.