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The reduction of weapons-related violence (Aug 2018)

This brochure gives an overview of HI's history which is closely intertwined with the fight against armed violence, including the use of anti-personnel landmines, cluster munitions, and other explosive remnants of war. It provides an outline of our unique expertise in demining and land clearance, risk education, and victim assistance.

According to the NGO PAX, investments in cluster munitions have fallen from $31 billion to $9 billion in the past three years, reflective of a huge drop in support for the use of these internationally banned weapons.  

Cluster munitions are bombs that opens mid-air to release hundreds of tiny bomblets that spread out over a wide area. Up to 40% fail to detonate on impact, and, much like landmines, cluster bombs remain “live” for decades. More than 90% of people killed by cluster munitions are non-combatants. However, several countries, including the U.S., continue to stock these indiscriminate weapons, and have yet to join the lifesaving treaty that bans them, the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

The dramatic 350% drop in production of cluster munitions is largely due to the fact that U.S. manufactures, Textron and Orbital ATK, have decided not to produce them anymore. However, seven companies continue to produce cluster munitions. The PAX report named 88 financial institutions that continue to invest in these cluster-munition manufacturers.

"Governments are increasingly aware that the use of cluster munitions is unacceptable," says Anne Héry, Director of Advocacy at HI. “120 countries have joined the Convention on Cluster Munitions, but only 11 of them have made it clear to financial institutions that supporting investments in cluster munitions is illegal. More needs to be done. We must work to reduce the sources of funding for these weapons in order to eradicate them."

According to the Cluster Munition Monitor 2018, published in August, cluster munitions were used in Syria and Yemen in 2017. In total, the Monitor recorded 289 new cluster munition casualties in 2017, including Syria and Yemen, and eight other countries where cluster munitions dropped during past conflicts have exploded.

This blog was originally posted in January 2015.