President Joe Biden’s Controversial Decision to Supply Cluster Bombs to Ukraine Draws Criticism from Human Rights Groups

Washington DC –

Plan United States of America (USA) supplies bom clusterwhich is banned in as many as 120 countries, to Ukraine reaped a lot of criticism. President Joe Biden called the supply of cluster bombs a ‘difficult decision’, but Kyiv needed them due to a shortage of ammunition in the fighting against Russia.

As reported AFPSaturday (8/7/2023), the Pentagon announced the latest military aid package for Ukraine on Friday (7/7) local time, which includes ‘dual-purpose improved conventional munitions‘ or what is commonly called a cluster bomb. This means that for the first time the US is supplying cluster bombs to Ukraine.

The move drew strong criticism from human rights groups because of the grave danger posed by unexploded cluster bombs.

Cluster bombs, banned by more than 120 countries, are weapons that release a large number of smaller bombs that can kill indiscriminately over a wide area and threaten civilians.

Cluster bombs that fail to explode can cause harm for years, even after a conflict has ended.

A 2009 law prohibited exports of US cluster bombs with a failure rate higher than 1 percent, which include nearly all of Washington’s military stockpile.

Criticism of the US came from Human Rights Watch (HRW) who said ‘moving these weapons would be sure to cause long-term suffering to civilians and undermine strong international criticism from those who oppose it’.

Criticism for the US also came from Amnesty International, see on the next page.

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(nvc/idh)

2023-07-08 09:30:42
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