LETHAL LEGACY:

The Need For A Ban

"The time has come to agree that these weapons that cause such indiscriminate suffering should no longer be used. The time has come to agree that we need a new international instrument to ban cluster munitions that have unacceptable humanitarian consequences."

- Jonas Gahr Støre, Minister of Foreign Affairs (Norway), Oslo Conference

The need for a ban on cluster munitions was apparent for decades. Cluster munitions have been used with increasing frequency in armed conflict since the 1970s, and in each instance, they left devastation and destruction in their wake. This chapter explores the nature of cluster munitions, a brief overview of their history of use and the immediate and long-term effects of using these weapons.

The Nature of Cluster Munitions

Firstly, what exactly are cluster munitions? Cluster munitions or cluster bombs are weapons that contain hundreds of smaller submunitions inside them, which burst when released.[6] The Convention on Cluster Munitions defines a cluster munition as "a conventional munition that is designed to disperse or release explosive submunitions each weighing less than 20 kilograms..."[7] They are analogous to dandelions, which have hundreds of spores that scatter over a wide area. Each 'spore' of a dandelion corresponds to the submunitions or bomblets within each munition, each of which is an individual weapon.

The weapon itself consists of a canister and several submunitions within it. Once dropped, the canister opens in mid-air and the submunitions scatter over the target, exploding on impact. These munitions can be launched from the air (releasing 'bomblets') or from the ground (releasing 'grenades').

The nature of cluster munitions and their effects have changed with changing technology. Initial forms of cluster bombs were created to primarily kill soldiers in battle, but the modern models are more complex[8]. They contain scored shells which are intended to wound or kill by fragmenting, and anti-armor munitions that are designed to damage vehicles and defense materiel. These weapons are valued by militaries because they can easily cover a wide area and have multiple effects[9]. Some models, such as the ones used in Afghanistan in 1999, had three ways of causing damage[10]. The steel core, which broke into 300 jagged cores of metal, could injure people 500 feet away, and damage light armor and trucks 50 feet away. A concave cone at the bottom of the munition acted as an anti-armor weapon, piercing into tanks and similar vehicles. Finally, a zirconium wafer spread incendiary fragments that could burn nearby vehicles. These particular weapons are called combined effects munitions due to their multiple effects.

Cluster munitions, in general, are primarily used as area weapons, to destroy 'soft' targets such as airfields, by dispersing bomblets over the area[11]. Their effects are not confined to one precise target, such as an individual tank for example, and can cover a large area. The area covered by the cluster munition once it is launched is called its footprint, and many types of cluster bombs have very wide footprints.

There are over 200 models of cluster munitions. Different models have different dispersal rates, depending on whether they adjust for the wind or not, and different dud rates (the percentage of submunitions in a cluster bomb that fails to explode when the bomb is launched), with older models having much higher dud rates. Depending on the dud rate and the dispersal area (or footprint), hundreds of thousands of duds (unexploded submunitions or ordnance) can litter over wide areas, remaining on the ground for decades after the end of the conflict, acting as a de-factor landmine for anyone who happens upon them.

History of Use

"We must bring an end to the unacceptable human suffering caused by the use of cluster munitions. This suffering is not an inevitable and unavoidable consequence of modern war. It is the result of the use of a particular group of weapons, developed for other conflict scenarios than those we are faced with today."

- Jonas Gahr Støre, Minister of Foreign Affairs (Norway), Oslo Conference

Cluster munitions came to gain importance in warfare due to "a combination of technological innovations, changing combat needs, industrial interests, permissive laws, and lack of public awareness or debate"[12]. The initial concept of a 'cluster' or group of munitions first surfaced during the First World War, but came into more conventional use after World War II[13].

Further technological innovations during the Korean War made these munitions more effective, less expensive and a bigger part of the arsenal of major militaries such as the United States[14]. In the aftermath of the Vietnam War, the US left millions of unexploded ordnance behind in Southeast Asia, that continued to injure and kill civilians in the intervening decades. Nonetheless, the US not only continued to use these weapons, they became an even bigger part of their armory, comprising nearly 29% of the United States Air Force's entire artillery budget[15]. Use of cluster munitions in conflict in the 1970s and 1980s extended to Africa, the Americas, the Middle East, and South Asia.

The Soviet Union, another major user of cluster munitions, used them extensively during its invasion of Afghanistan from 1979 - 1989. The Russian government also used cluster munitions widely in Chechnya from 1994 - 1996, and again in 1999. In violation of the laws of war, Russia directed many of its cluster munition attacks, including the infamous 1999 attack on the Grozny market (which reportedly killed at least 137 people) at civilian areas[16].

Vietnam War

Cluster munitions are an especially heinous legacy of the Vietnam War. Technological advances and the unique challenges faced by the United States in Southeast Asia made the use of cluster munitions an integral part of their military strategy. The US dropped approximately 80,000 cluster munitions (containing 26 million submunitions) on Cambodia, more than 296,000 cluster munitions (containing nearly 97 million submunitions) on Vietnam, and more than 414,000 cluster munitions (containing at least 260 million submunitions) on Laos[17]. The millions of unexploded ordnances left behind hindered the development of these countries for decades, affecting an already impoverished populace. Cluster munitions fueled opposition to the Vietnam War both inside and outside the US, as protestors highlighted the destructive effects of these munitions in their campaigns, and journalists reported on the damage wrought by them.

Between 1964 and 1973, the United States dropped cluster bombs on Laos during the Vietnam War every eight minutes[18], leaving behind between 20 - 60 million unexploded submunitions[19]. The planes used to bomb Laos were fitted to carry about 30 tons of bombs, many of them failing to detonate, with a failure rate as high as 30%. Estimates by the United Nations put at least 500,000 unexploded ordnance (UXO) still in the country in 1996. Due to the high number of duds left behind after the war, between 1973 and 2006, over 4,800 casualties have been reported in Lao[20], although according to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the figure is closer to 11,000, more than 30% of whom were children[21]. Accidents and injuries related to the unexploded ordnances are common, with 65% of those injuries occurring while performing everyday tasks such as working in the fields[22].

Cluster munitions were used in Cambodia from 1969 - 73, to stop supplies and troops traveling along the Ho Chi Minh Trail[23]. Strikes during that period are said to have left behind an estimated 1.9 - 5.7 million submunitions. Although the failure rate of the munitions was  projected by the United States at 10%, it has been estimated by Handicap International that the actual failure rate was closer to 30% due to various factors on the ground, including the method of deployment of the munitions. This would imply that between 0.5 - 1.7 million submunitions failed to detonate, and was left behind as de-facto landmines, to injure or kill hundreds and thousands of people in the aftermath of the conflict.

In Vietnam, the number of submunitions left behind is reported at between 7 - 20 million[24], leading to 1,275 reported casualties. The reported numbers are a fraction of estimated casualty figures, based on various data points collected by Handicap International. They estimate the actual casualty figures in Vietnam between 1975 and 2006 to be closer to 34,500 - 52,350[25]. The other casualty figures cited previously in Laos and Cambodia are also estimated to be inaccurate by several thousand.

First Gulf War

The United States used cluster munitions extensively during the first Gulf War; cluster bombs accounted for a quarter of the bombs dropped on Iraq and Kuwait[26]. Cluster bombs were used against a range of targets, including infrastructure and dual-use targets also used by civilians[27]. To avoid anti-aircraft fire, the bombs were dropped from medium to high altitudes, a factor that increased the number of duds. Additional factors such as the desert soil and the high number of munitions used in total raised the dud rates, and contributed to high civilian casualties. Unexploded ordnances also killed or injured one hundred US soldiers, and...