Cluster Munitions Monitor 2025: All Recorded Victims in 2024 Were Civilians

The 2025 Cluster Munition Monitor, published on September 15, reveals that all reported casualties from this weapon in 2024 were civilians. Despite being banned under the 2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions, cluster munitions continue to be used: New uses by countries like Russia, Myanmar, and Syria challenge the treaty. Lithuania’s withdrawal from the Convention, effective March 2025, is another challenge.

States will convene at the Cluster Munition conference from September 16 to 19 in Geneva. They must reaffirm their commitment to the Convention. The Cluster Munition Convention is effective in protecting civilians from this barbaric weapon. We must defend it. Despite widespread advocacy efforts, the U.S. has not joined the Convention.

“Cluster munitions are banned for a reason: civilians, including children, account for the vast majority of casualties from both direct attacks and unexploded ordnance. Every year, civilians represent the vast majority of victims, with children comprising almost half. Many submunitions fail to detonate on impact, becoming long-lasting unexploded ordnances that have the effect of landmines and continue to kill or maim civilians—particularly children—for years,” said HI’s Advocacy Director, Anne Héry.  “However, Lithuania formally withdrew from the Convention in March 2025, signaling a concerning threat to international humanitarian disarmament norms. Questioning the Cluster Munition Convention is unacceptable. States convening at the annual Cluster Munition Conference must reaffirm their strong attachment to the treaty and their condemnation of any use by any party.”

Worrisome Development in 2024

• The 2025 Cluster Munition Monitor reports a deeply troubling rise in civilian harm caused by cluster munitions, with 314 casualties recorded globally in 2024 alone.
• All recorded casualties in 2024 were civilians. Children accounted for 42% of those harmed by remnants.
• New use was reported in Ukraine, Myanmar, and Syria (before the fall of the Assad regime).
• For the third consecutive year, Ukraine registered the highest number of victims, reflecting the ongoing and devastating use of these weapons in conflict zones: Ukraine suffered 193 civilian casualties from cluster munition attacks in 2024, with an additional 15 harmed by unexploded submunitions. Likely, many more military victims were not reported in the Monitor.
• New casualties from cluster munitions were recorded in nine countries in 2024: Afghanistan, Iraq, Lao PDR, Lebanon, Mauritania, Myanmar, Syria, Ukraine, and Yemen. There were victims of cluster munitions remnants in Afghanistan, Iraq, Lao PDR, Lebanon, Mauritania, Syria, Ukraine, and Yemen. There were victims of cluster munitions attacks in Myanmar, Syria, and Ukraine.
• Since records began in the mid-1960s, more than 56,800 people are believed to have been killed or injured by cluster munitions worldwide. Lao PDR, Syria, Iraq, Vietnam, and Ukraine remain the most heavily affected countries.
• The report also notes a worrying trend in the production and promotion of cluster munitions by states not party to the Convention, including evidence of recent manufacturing in Iran, North Korea, and South Korea. Furthermore, between July 2023 and April 2024, the United States delivered at least five shipments of cluster-munition shells to Ukraine. Germany served as a transit route for this transfer.
• Lithuania decided to leave the Oslo Convention in July 2024. This decision took effect on March 6, 2025.

How Important This Treaty Is

A total of 11 States Parties have completed clearance of cluster munition contaminated areas—the most recent being Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2023. States Parties contaminated with cluster munition remnants released just over 100km² of hazardous area through clearance, technical survey, and non-technical survey during 2024.

Land release destroyed at least 83,452 cluster munition remnants. The number of cluster munition remnants destroyed in 2024 is the highest reported in the past five years. 

The Challenge of Clearing Cluster Munitions

Cluster munitions scatter over vast areas, often leaving hundreds of unexploded bomblets behind. Many fail to detonate on impact, acting like hidden landmines for years. They are usually found in farmland, villages, and schools, putting civilians -especially children - at risk.

Clearance of cluster munitions is extremely dangerous due to the high risk of accidental detonation, especially with unstable or degraded submunitions, posing significant risks not only to civilians but also to clearance staff. 

Due to their sensitive nature, submunitions are destroyed by explosives where they are found and are not moved. It requires highly trained teams, specialized equipment, and long-term operations.

The Convention at Risk

Lithuania officially withdrew from the 2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions in March 2025. This decision comes amid a risk of gradual erosion of international standards in recent years that is unacceptable: One year ago, the United States provided Ukraine with cluster munitions and continued to do so.

The 2025 Monitor also reports 17 producers (or states that reserve the right to do so) of cluster munitions: Brazil, Myanmar, China, Pakistan, Egypt, Poland, Greece, Romania, India, Russia, Iran, Singapore, Israel, North Korea, South Korea, Türkiye, and the US. It is worth noting that the Indian company SMPP promoted cluster munitions during the Eurosatory Arms Exhibition in Paris in June 2024.

In 2023 and 2024, the US proceeded to seven transfers of US cluster munitions to Ukraine, and it was reported that these weapons were transported through the state party Germany.

An International Convention Joined by Two-Thirds of the World's Countries

The Oslo Convention on Cluster Munitions was adopted on May 30, 2008. It was then opened for signature on December 3-4, 2008, and it officially entered into force on August 1, 2010. As of today, 123 states (124 before the withdrawal of Lithuania) have committed to the Convention’s strong and comprehensive norms. This represents over 60% of the world’s nations.

For humanitarian-impact stories, check this article on Volodymyr, a 59-year-old Ukrainian lawyer, who was injured in a cluster munition strike on Kharkiv city.

Spokespersons are available for interview upon media request.