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UNIDIR Press Conference on the Cluster Ammunitions Monitor 05 September 2023
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Edited News , Press Conferences | UNITED NATIONS , UNOG
UNIDIR Press Conference - Launch of the Cluster Munition Monitor 2023 report - 05 September 2023
STORY: Launch of the Cluster Munition Monitor 2023 report - UNIDIR
DURATION (TRT): 3’16”
SOURCE: UNTV CH
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH, NATS
ASPECT RATIO: 16:9
DATELINE: 5 September 2023, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
FORMAT: HYBRID PRESS BRIEFING
- Exterior medium shot: UN flag alley, UN Geneva
- Wide shot: speakers behind podium, attendees at the press conference
- SOUNDBITE (English) – Loren Persi, Impact editor, Cluster Munition Monitor 2023: “The number of casualties from cluster munitions overall in 2022 was the highest number ever recorded by the Cluster Munition Monitor since reporting began in 2010. And this is really significant, it means that the global number of casualties was higher than during the peak of the conflict outcomes in Syria.”
- Wide shot: attendees at the press conference, cameramen and sound engineers in the background
- SOUNDBITE (English) – Mary Wareham, Human Rights Watch Arms Advocacy Director: “The vast majority of the cluster munition rocket missile and artillery attacks in Ukraine during 2022 and into 2023 have been conducted by Russian forces. That is, I think, the major reason for the optic in civilian casualties. However, it is clear that Ukrainian forces have also used cluster munitions, causing civilian harm.”
- Close shot: attendee at the press conference
- SOUNDBITE (English) – Mary Wareham, Human Rights Watch Arms Advocacy Director: “One of the biggest headlines this year was just in July when the United States announced that it would transfer an unspecified portion of its cluster munitions stocks to Ukraine for use in the war. We were appalled by that decision, we fought it behind the scenes for the year leading up to this decision. The cluster munitions have been transferred now. We acknowledge the international outcry over the cluster munition transfers to Ukraine.”
- Medium shot: speakers behind panel at the press conference
- SOUNDBITE (English) – Mary Wareham, Human Rights Watch Arms Advocacy Director: “Stockpiled destruction, this is a success story of the Convention to see nearly 1.5 million cluster munitions destroyed from the stocks of the countries that have joined the Convention. And within those cluster munitions, we have collected a total of nearly 179 million submunitions. Each submunition can take a human life with them. So this is where we regard the Convention as being truly lifesaving.”
- Medium shot: attendees and cameraman at the press conference
- SOUNDBITE (English) – Loren Persi, Impact editor, Cluster Munition Monitor 2023: “There was a great number of cluster munitions remnants casualties in 2022. The remnants are primarily the unexploited submunitions from the weapon, 185. These remnants are particularly devastating to children. They are interesting, they are often in areas where children play or work, taking animals to the field. And over 70% of casualties of cluster munition remnants were children in 2022.”
- Medium shot: speakers behind panel, photographer and attendees at the press conference
- SOUNDBITE (English) – Loren Persi, Impact editor, Cluster Munition Monitor 2023: “It’s in the period after the use, often when there’s a peace or a possibility for people to return to their homes or to their fields that the cluster munition remnants start to cause casualties.”
- Medium shot: cameraman at the press conference, screen with speaker
- Close shot: photographer and attendees at the press conference
- Close shot: attendees at the press conference
Casualties from cluster munitions reach record high in 2022
The number of civilians killed and injured by cluster munitions in the past year has reached with more than 1,000 casualties - the highest number ever recorded - mostly owing to their use in the Ukraine war, said the UN-partnered Cluster Munition Coalition (CMC) civil society group on Tuesday.
“The number of casualties from cluster munitions overall in 2022 was the highest number ever recorded by the Cluster Munition Monitor since reporting began in 2010,” said Loren Persi, Impact editor of the Cluster Munition Monitor 2023 report.
Talking to the journalists at the United Nations in Geneva, Mr. Persi described the development as “really significant, it means that the global number of casualties was higher than during the peak of the conflict outcomes in Syria”.
Cluster munitions are weapons that are fired from the ground by artillery, rockets, missiles and mortar projectiles, or dropped by aircraft. They open in the air to disperse multiple submunitions or bomblets over a wide area. Many submunitions fail to explode on initial impact, leaving remnants that indiscriminately injure and kill, in a similar way to landmines, until they are cleared and destroyed.
The civil society report states that of the 1,172 recorded victims in 2022, 353 died. It also finds that Russia has used cluster munitions repeatedly in Ukraine since its full-scale invasion in February 2022, while Ukraine has also used them, to “a lesser extent”.
“The vast majority of the cluster munition rocket missile and artillery attacks in Ukraine during 2022 and into 2023 have been conducted by Russian forces,” said Mary Wareham, Human Rights Watch Arms Advocacy Director. “That is the major reason for the optic in civilian casualties. However, it is clear that Ukrainian forces have also used cluster munitions, causing civilian harm.”
In Ukraine alone, cluster munition attacks killed and injured at least 890 people in 2022; the vast majority were civilians.
According to the Monitor report, civilians accounted for 95 per cent of cluster munition casualties recorded in 2022.
In July 2023, the United States began transferring an unspecified quantity of its stockpiled 155mm artillery-delivered cluster munitions to Ukraine. The transfer decision has been criticized by at least 21 government leaders and officials.
“One of the biggest headlines this year was just in July when the United States announced that it would transfer an unspecified portion of its cluster munitions stocks to Ukraine for use in the war,” reported Ms Wareham. “We were appalled by that decision, we fought it behind the scenes for the year leading up to this decision. The cluster munitions have been transferred now. We acknowledge the international outcry over the cluster munition transfers to Ukraine.”
The report indicated that unlike in past years where casualties have nearly always been caused by the deadly explosion of bomb remnants, most of the casualties in 2022 resulted from live bombs, underscoring the urgent need to end use of these weapons and for all countries and to join the global ban.
“There was a great number of cluster munitions remnants casualties in 2022,” said Mr Persi. “The remnants are primarily the unexploited submunitions from the weapon, about 185. These remnants are particularly devastating to children. They are interesting (to children), they are often in areas where children play or work, taking animals to the field. And over 70 per cent% of casualties of cluster munition remnants were children in 2022.”
Survivors of cluster munitions often sustain severe injuries from blast, burn and fragmentation that can result in lifelong medical treatment.
Mr. Persi emphasized that “it’s in the period after the use, often when there’s a peace or a possibility for people to return to their homes or to their fields that the cluster munition remnants start to cause casualties.”
On a more positive note, the report highlighted that the State parties to the Convention have made steady progress in implementing the convention. Bulgaria destroyed the last of its stockpiled cluster munitions at the end of June 2023. Collectively, Bulgaria, Peru, and Slovakia destroyed a total of at least 4,166 stockpiled cluster munitions and 134,598 submunitions during 2022 and the first half of 2023.
“Stockpiled destruction, this is a success story of the Convention to see nearly 1.5 million cluster munitions destroyed from the stocks of the countries that have joined the Convention,” reported Ms. Wareham. “Within those cluster munitions, we have collected a total of nearly 179 million submunitions. Each submunition can take a human life with them. So, this is where we regard the Convention as being truly lifesaving.”
The Convention on Cluster Munitions prohibits cluster munitions and requires the destruction of stockpiles and the clearance of areas contaminated by cluster munition remnants, as well as the provision of risk education and assistance to victims.
A total of 112 countries have ratified or acceded to the 2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions, while 12 more have signed. South Sudan acceded to the convention on 3 August 2023, while Nigeria ratified it on 28 February 2023.
-ends-
Teleprompter
Good morning and welcome to the global launch of the Cluster Munition Monitor 2023 report.
My name is Paul Holtam and I'm the head of the Conventional Arms and Ammunition Programme at the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research, Unidear.
On behalf of Unidear, it's an honour to chair this year's launch event for the 2023 edition of the Annual Cluster Munition Monitor Report.
Unidary is very pleased to have enjoyed long and close collaboration with the International Campaign to Ban Land Mines and the Cluster Munition Coalition.
Over many years we've had the privilege of hosting launch events for the respective campaigns Annual Landmine Monitor and the Cluster Munition Monitor reports.
And now to this year's launch.
Cluster munitions are weapons that are delivered from aircraft or fired in rockets, missiles, and artillery projectiles.
They open in the air to disperse dozens, sometimes hundreds, of submunitions over a wide area.
As the International Campaign to Ban Land Mines in the Cluster Munition Coalition has shown over many years, the impact of cluster munitions can be devastating when used in populated areas.
Moreover, many submunitions fail to detonate as designed, and those munitions can thus continue to pose a ****** for civilians long after a conflict ends.
New use of cluster munitions negatively impact sustainable development goals, and land contaminated by cluster munition remnants in turn degrades human security.
It should therefore come as no surprise that the United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres in his new Agenda for Peace, which was issued in July of 2023, urged states to achieve universality of treaties banning inhumane and indiscriminate weapons.
The Convention on Cluster Munitions, which bans cluster munitions and requires their clearance and victim assistance, is one such treaty adopted 15 years ago in May of 2008.
The Convention is currently in good standing with 112 states parties.
Another 12 countries have signed but not yet ratified the convention.
This year's Cluster Munition report notes that South Sudan acceded to the convention at the beginning of August of this year, while Nigeria ratified the convention in February of 2023.
Unidear welcomes the continuing progress in universalisation and reiterates the Secretary General's call for countries that have not yet done so to join the Convention on cluster munitions without delay.
The Cluster Munition Monitor 2023 is the 14th annual report by the Cluster Munition Coalition, and as its predecessors, it tracks efforts to eradicate classmunitions by all countries, regardless of whether they've joined the Convention.
The report is based on independent, impartial research and provides A comprehensive global overview of developments relating to classmunition ban policy use, production transfers, stockpiling and stockpile destruction.
The report contains important information on cluster munition contamination and casualties, as well as efforts to reduce that impact via clearance, survey, risk education and victim assistance.
This year's Cluster Munition Monitor report shows how once again, civilians are the primary victims of cluster munitions, both of the time of the attack and also from their remnants.
This year's edition of the Monitor documents a shocking increase in the number of people killed and wounded in cluster munition attacks, as well as from remnants.
And next week, the Cluster Munition Coalition and Unity will attend the 11th Meeting of States Parties to the Convention on Cluster Munitions, which this year has held under the Presidency of Iraq.
This meeting offers a timely opportunity to express grave concern over the increase in civilian casualties and the humanitarian impact resulting from the repeated and well documented use of CLASS munitions in recent years, in particular in Ukraine.
At their last meeting in September of 2022, the conventional States Parties collectively underscored their obligation to use class, not to use class munitions under any circumstances, and condemned any use of Classmations by any actor.
UNIDIR hopes that States Parties will include similarly strong language in the final report of this year's Annual Meeting.
I now have the honour and privilege to hand over the floor and for those of you joining online, the screen to three of the civil society experts that have been centrally critically involved in producing this year's Monitor report.
First, we'll hear from Susan Aboyd, arms Associate at Human Rights Watch.
Susan served as a production manager for this year's report and she'll briefly introduce it's main components and materials.
Our second presenter is Mary Wareham, Arms Advocacy Director of Human Rights Watch, who established the Landmine Monitor initiative in 1998, which since expanded in 2010 to take on also the monitoring of cluster munitions.
And Mary will present the report's findings relating to new use, production and transfers as well as progress in stockpile destruction.
And finally, we have Lauren Percy, Landmine and cluster munition monitors.
Impact Team Leader Lauren has edited the casualties and victim Assistance section of every Cluster Munition Monitor report since it's inception in 2010 and he'll present highlights from the monitors reporting on the human impact of cluster munitions covering contamination, casualties, clearance, risk education and victim assistance.
From a personal perspective, I'm delighted to acknowledge the presence here in the room of Tamar Gabelnick, who started on the 1st of September 2023 as the new Director of the Geneva based International Campaign to Ban Land Mines and Cluster Munitions.
And Jared Block, the Communications Manager is also with us today.
All of these five excellent experts stand ready to answer any of your questions after the presentations.
And so now, without any further ado, I'd like to hand over first to you, Susan, and then I'll invite Mary and Lauren to speak before we provide some time for questions.
Thank you for your attention.
Please Susan, the screen and the floor are yours.
Thank you, Paul, and thank you all for being here.
Like Paul mentioned, this is the 14th annual Cluster Mission Monitor report, and this report covers banned policy use, production, transfers, and stockpiling globally.
It also assesses and addresses the impact of classroom mission contamination and casualties.
Now this report covers calendar year 2022 with information where possible up to August 2023.
This year's report is 96 pages and you'll see the physical copy of the report up in the front of the room.
If you can grab that.
And the online version can also be accessed at this at the following link up on the screen.
Individual country profiles are also found on the website and we are in the process of uploading these profiles, but the profiles provide additional country specific findings related to these topics.
We extend our we extend our thanks and gratitude to our continued financial support from government funders and you can see those on screen as well.
And just look out for our sister publication, the Landmine Monitor, which is scheduled to be launched November 15th, 2023.
Thank you.
And now I'm going to pass it over to Mary Wareham.
Thanks, Susan.
Thanks very much to you Nadia for allowing us to present this report here at the United Nations.
Again, I want to start off by saying it's unconscionable that civilians are still being are still dying and being wounded from Class 2 munitions 15 years after these weapons were prohibited in Dublin in May of 2008.
Class 2 munitions are abhorrent weapons that are globally banned because of the immediate and long term harm that they cause to civilians.
We believe, as Paul said, that the convention is in good standing, 112 countries fully bound by its provisions and #12 have signed the convention but still need to ratify.
And it was happening this year to see Nigeria and South Sudan come on board the convention.
You know, governments that back the stigma against Quest munitions should reconsider their position in light of the terrible harm that these weapons cause and join the international ban.
The greatest obstacle to countries working to eradicate cluster munitions are the governments that are unwilling to join this convention and that undermine its principles by using and transferring these weapons.
We put a line here about transparency reporting to show you where some of the information for the annual monitor reports come from.
Under this convention, all countries that join it are supposed to provide a transparency report upon joining, and then each year they provide an annual update.
Our task is civil society is to trawl through those transparency reports to make sure that the numbers add up and to follow up if we have questions.
We also conduct our research through interviews through approaching countries directly.
And Lauren, of course, we'll talk more about that, but transparency is key for us in the Gloucester Munition Monitor.
Of course, the headline this year is new use of Class DE munitions.
It is with great relief that we can say that there have been no reports or allegations of new use of class DE munitions by any of the countries that are states parties to the Convention.
And that has been the case since the treaty was adopted in 2008.
However, we're dismayed that cluster munitions have been used extensively in Ukraine during the reporting period.
And we're also extremely disappointed to let you know of the new use that we recorded in 2022 in Syria, where cluster munitions were used extensively during the 20 tens, as well as in Myanmar.
And that's the first time that cluster munition use has been reported in Myanmar.
The vast majority of the cluster munition rocket, rocket, missile and artillery attacks in Ukraine during 2022 and into 2023 have been conducted by Russian forces.
That is the, I think, major reason for the uptick in civilian casualties.
However, it's clear that Ukrainian forces have also used cluster munitions, causing civilian harm.
We track production and transfer of cluster munitions, and these numbers remain the same.
18 countries have have stopped producing cluster munitions, all of them because they're joined the Convention on Cluster Munitions, with the exception of Argentina, which is not yet joined but nonetheless stopped production.
It's disappointing though that 16 countries are still producing cluster munitions or that they reserve the right to do so.
We believe that many of these countries are not currently producing class to munitions, but we retain them on the list of producers until they make a firm pledge not to produce in future.
Having no plans, having no intent to do so, is not the same as firmly committing to never again produce class to munitions in the future.
Russia has produced class to munitions recently and has been using newly developed types in Ukraine.
I guess one of the biggest headlines this year was just in July when the United States announced that it would transfer an unspecified portion of its cluster munition stocks to Ukraine for use in the war.
We were appalled by that decision.
We fought it behind the scenes for the year leading up to the decision.
The the cluster munitions have been transferred.
Now, we acknowledged the international outcry over the class munition transfers to Ukraine in the report, but the report does not cover how those Class 2 munitions are being used right now or if there's been any casualties, civilian casualties from them that will be contained in next year's report.
And of course, at Human Rights, which will continue to track and to monitor the use of Class 2 munitions by both sides in Ukraine.
There has been evidence that other countries may have transferred Class 2 munitions, but we have not come to any specific findings on that yet.
Really, the vast majority of cluster munitions used in Ukraine have been old and new.
Old Soviet stocks, newer Russian stocks, and, and, and now we see the US cluster munitions being used in Ukraine.
Stockpile distraction.
This is a success story of the convention to see nearly 1.5 million Class 2 munitions destroyed from the stocks of the countries that have joined the convention.
And within those Class 2 munitions we're a collective total of of nearly 179,000,000 submunitions.
Each submunition can take a human life or limb.
So this is where we regard the convention as being truly life saving.
The good news here is that Bulgaria destroyed the last of its class to munition stocks in June of this year and we're expecting to hear that announcement at the conventions meeting next week.
Peru and Slovakia have been making steady progress to destroy their stocks of class to munitions.
It's fair to say that all eyes will be on South Africa next week because it is.
It has declared a stockpile of class to munitions, which is not yet destroyed, and there is a procedure under the convention where it can apply for to extend the period that it needs to meet the deadline.
We also track countries that have decided to retain cluster munition stocks for training of D miners and for developing countermeasures to cluster munitions.
The good news is that the vast majority of states parties to the convention have not retained any cluster munitions for research and training purposes.
However, 11 states parties are doing so, and Germany tops that list.
That's the banned policy findings.
Thank you.
Thanks a lot.
I take over here from what Mary was saying about the significance of the increased casualties that Paul also mentioned.
And the number of casualties from cluster munitions overall in 2022 was the highest number ever recorded by the Cluster Mission Monitor since reporting began in 2010.
And this is really significant.
It means that the global number of casualties was higher than during the peak of the conflict outcomes in Syria in 2013 and 2016, when there was also over 1000 casualties.
So of the 1172 casualties recorded by the Cluster Mission Monitor in 2022, most of those casualties, almost 1000, were caused by cluster mission attacks and the vast majority of those were in Ukraine.
This is significant and disturbing, particularly put into the context of what is known throughout the time of the Convention on Class, the missions and even going back to the first reporting on casualties of class missions globally around the time of its adoption, there has been continuously over 90% of casualties recognised to be civilian and it was 95% in 2022.
As early as 2007 when this reporting started.
The response of some military personnel to these **** numbers of civilian casualties is why are you surprised?
And now in 2022-2023, we cannot be surprised that the use of class nations and the remnants of class nations cause such **** civilian casualty numbers.
In contrast, in 2021, when there were no use of classmation casualty that, sorry, no use of classmissions was recorded as having caused casualties.
There was 149 casualties of class munition remnants.
There was some great number of classmation remnants casualties in 2022.
The remnants, primarily the unexploited submunitions from the Weapon 185.
And these remnants are particularly devastating to children.
They're interesting, They are often in areas where children play or work, taking animals out to the field.
And over 70% of casualties of cosmician remnants were children in 2022.
And efforts to help the victims of Cosmicians have hit some major hurdles, particularly in countries where there are economic crises following COVID and for other reasons.
And these services faced significant challenges in countries like Afghanistan, Lebanon, Somalia and in the newest States Party, South Sudan, which has recognised the needs of victims already Prior to joining the convention.
And Speaking of the the impact of the contamination, there are 29 areas and states which are known or suspected to be contaminated with classifications.
11 of those are states parties, including South Sudan.
But the extent of the contamination still needs to be better defined and only 5 states parties had a very clear understanding of that contamination.
Several states were under doing survey, including the most affected state party, Lao PDR.
So we've just recently heard since the publication of this report that Bosnia and Herzegovina is going to declare that it has completed clearance of cluster nations.
And that is really great news.
Prior to that, there had been no completion of clearance in any country since 2020.
And certainly more completion needs to happen to make these countries free of classmations and the victims of classmations remnants.
And while those remnants remain in the ground, the risk education and awareness of the dangers, particularly for children, remains extremely important.
So men and children, including adolescents, remained the highest risk group and they were over 2 sorry, over 1/3 of the beneficiaries of risk education activities and all states parties with classmation contamination conducted these risk education activities to raise awareness of the ****** of classmation remnants.
Except Chile and Germany, which have restricted areas where the contamination is, which is, which are inaccessible to the public and well marked efforts to reach people who may be at risk of classmations in states not party, including Ukraine, have been continuing and are using new and innovative forms including electronic and social media and similarly in.
States which are not party to the convention but have significant numbers of victims.
Victim assistance requires many more resources and is offering suffering.
Thank you.
Thank you to our excellent speakers of our presenters today.
One for trying to share some good news with regard to stop power destruction and also clearance in the case of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
But overall, I took the worrying trends that you've shared in terms of the, the, the increase in use in attacks and also the civilian toll that you've shared.
I'm, I'm very confident that your presentation and the material you've shared will prompt a lot of questions both here in the room and also online.
What I'd propose is that for those in the room, please raise your hand and I'll turn to you to ask questions.
And I also take note of those who are able to use the the hand function on on online as well to do so.
For those in the room, please use the microphone and introduce yourself and pose your questions.
And I'll take a round of a couple of questions at a time and ask our presenters to share.
For those of you joining online, I'll give you a few moments to unmute yourselves before turning to you.
I see two gentlemen in the room and I see Nina Larshan online.
So please.
So if you would like to go first, yes.
And thank you for taking my question.
The Pentagon says that Ukrainian are using cluster ammunition correctly and responsibly after the transfer a lot of them to Ukraine.
Can the UN confirm such an assertion?
Things do the UN, things that Ukraine is now using correctly and responsibly cluster ammunition, taking into account the fact that there are attacks with clutter ammunition on the residential areas of Donetsk, for example, Not every day, but a lot of time.
Thank you.
Can you introduce yourself, please, Sir?
Sorry.
I'm sorry.
You're a product for Ian Novasti.
We'll take three questions, please.
I've got a couple of on This is why briefly contrary to what people think or contrary to what I fought until then, it seems that remnants is only a small portion of the casualties.
I used to think that it was the vast majority of the casualties that was that was due to to to remnants of, of cluster munition.
So can you explain exactly this, this this particular thing that's it seems that the the civilians are actually injured or killed during the initial explosion.
Do you also manage to sub categorise between the the the casualties?
I mean, how many people are killed and injured?
And of course, the, the, the obvious questions about the US transfer to, to Ukraine.
If it is so obvious that more than 90% of the, the, the, the casualties are civilians, how do you explain that the US is still transferring, are still transferring cluster monitions to, to Ukraine?
If that's so inefficient and and apologies, I'm Jeremy Launch.
I'm working for the French national radio.
Thank you.
I'll take the last question from Nina Larshan, who's joining online from AFP.
Please, Nina, if you can, unmute yourself and then we'll take another round after our presenters have answered these questions.
Yes, thank you for taking my taking my questions.
So Nina Larsen, AFPI first also wanted to ask about the the remnants.
Given the massive surge in in use of cluster munitions seen last year, especially in Ukraine, what do you think this will mean in terms of casualties from cluster munition remnants going forward?
And also, you write in the report that the US last made cluster munitions or they ended their production of the weapons in 2016, but that the US is developing and producing replacements for these munitions that may still fall under the definition of cluster munitions prohibited.
By the convention.
If you could explain a little.
Bit more what you.
Mean by that, if you could detail that a little bit more.
Thank you.
Thank you, Nina.
Thank you for the first three questions.
I'll, I'll turn to Mary 1st and then to Lauren with regards to responses.
And Susan, please jump in over to you first, Mary.
OK, So the first question concerned Ukraine's use of cluster munitions and whether the UN could confirm that they're being used in accordance with the the tweet that the defence minister issued outlining how Ukraine would use those cluster munitions.
I can't speak for the UN, despite the sign behind me.
And I, I have to also just remind you that this report does not cover the use of the US cluster munitions in Ukraine.
We'll be doing that next year.
We've seen a lot of, we've seen some reporting starting to come out of the cluster munition used by the Ukrainian forces of the of the US cluster munitions and they appear to being used in military areas.
We've not seen evidence of use in civilian areas, but we've definitely seen allegations of civilian harm in the areas that you mentioned.
It's just difficult for my organisation to enter those areas and, and I think for other others as well.
Any report or allegation of cluster munition harm to civilians is concerning.
And I expect that we'll be finding out more in the future, especially as the areas open up and are are accessible to people who are not military.
And relating to that, to Nina's question, you know, why did the cluster munition transfers go ahead if there was so much knowledge and awareness of the civilian harm caused by cluster munitions?
That's a great question to ask the United States.
We certainly have been asking that question and many more questions because unfortunately it's it was good to have the transparency that the cluster munition transfers were, were being made, that it was happening.
But we still do not know the precise type types of cluster munitions that are being sent.
And that matters for understanding the dud rate.
We don't understand the dud rate of the submunitions that was described as being less than 2.35%.
Our reporting has seen much higher dud rates.
These are the submunitions that fail to detonate upon impact and the class munitions that have been sent we believe have a higher dud rate of of 14% or or higher.
We don't know the quantity of class munitions that United States has transferred to Ukraine, the period in which the class munitions are being transferred, when the transfers will end, how the transfers were, how the questions were transferred to Ukraine.
Was it across the territory or through the airspace of a state party to the convention?
Where they pulled from the from the stocks on a American base in one of the European states parties to the convention?
These transfers are raising huge questions concerning civilian harm, but I think we're not going to realise the full extent of that until the war comes to an end and the areas can be opened up properly for, for survey, for clearance and for for removal of of the class to munitions.
So we'll, we'll find out in the in the months and and years to come the full impact of the class to munition transfers from the United States.
But of course, we've seen hundreds of class de munition attacks by the Russian forces using old Soviet and newer developed class de munitions in in Ukraine.
Nina was also asking about manufacturing and yes, the the United States, the last production of class de munitions in the United States, it ended in 2016 when the last manufacturer Textron Systems ended it's production of the weapon.
We have been looking through Pentagon planning documents, budget documents at the the replacement systems that the United States has been looking to invest in to replace class to munitions.
And this is where we identified some that potentially could still be class to munition.
We need to find out more about those particular weapon systems.
It's good that alternatives to cluster munitions are being developed, but I guess I would also say that cluster, that alternatives already exist.
I mean, 124 countries are managing to live without cluster munitions in their arsenals without using them.
And they're using alternative weapons and means and methods of, of, of war fighting to, to, to, to fight without cluster munitions.
There's more detail as well in the US country profile, which is going to be uploaded to today on the website on my end there.
Thanks.
Thanks a lot.
And I think these are really important questions about casualties in the situation, the difference and impacts between use and classmation remnants.
And there's a definite and obvious pattern to the way that this harm occurs.
So when cluster missions are used, the vast majority of casualties are from the use from the attacks themselves, and they are over 90% civilian.
This is this is the way that it's, it's pretty much always been.
This says to me that in line with the basic principles of conventional class missions, there can be no responsible use of cluster missions.
But what also happens at that time, during what is often a kind of peak in conflict, is that the recording of class missions remnants, casualties, or actually all casualties of mines, class mission remnants, and other explosive remnants of war is really stifled by the conditions of conflict.
And that means that there are often not the recording mechanisms that would really show up how many classmation remnants casualties there are at that time.
That information often comes later, maybe even a couple of years later through medical systems, sometimes through clearance operators.
We saw that in Syria that a few years afterwards there was hundreds and hundreds of more casualties reported for previous years.
And at the time of conflict also, people really don't know what exploded.
And as Mary mentioned, there's new types of cluster nations being used in Ukraine.
And if you see them, they look like some of them look like batteries, things which are not really identifiable by the victims themselves or their families.
And then it's in the period after the use when often when there's a peace or a possibility for people to return to their homes or to their fields, that the class nation remnants start to cause casualties.
And I, I didn't want to overwhelm the presentation with statistics, but for example, despite there being horrendous class nation attacks in Syria in 2022, which targeted a number of refugee camps causing **** numbers of casualties, there were more class submission casualties in Yemen from class submission remnants during this time of relative peace and peace negotiations as people return to their daily lives.
So there was there was 90 casualties in in Syria, including 75 from the attacks and 95 in Yemen.
So this gives you a sense of what happens actually when things start to go back to normal and the sort of ****** that is placed in Ukraine.
But just to say something also quickly on, on sources, because Mary had mentioned that we use many sources, including state's own reporting Article 7 report.
We use every identifiable source for the casualty data that can be compared to other data sources.
So as to the extent that there wouldn't be a duplication of casualties.
That's, that's the information we use.
And and that's what gives these, these these kind of statistics.
And very often during attacks, it's not clear how many of the casualties were, for example, children or women, but this becomes very clear in the statistics on class nation remnants and the effects they cause.
The answers that.
Thank you, Mary.
Thank you, Lauren.
I'll open up for another round of questions.
I have one in the room, please.
And I'll keep an eye on what's happening on the online as well.
Good morning.
Thanks very much for the very interesting briefing.
Emma Farge from Reuters, I was wondering if you have the exact breakdown of the use of cluster munitions in Ukraine by the two sides.
And secondly, Mary, I'd be very interested in hearing more about your engagement with the United States on on trying to prevent them getting sent to Ukraine.
What sort of feedback did you get?
What are your ongoing efforts to prevent their further use in the conflict?
Thank you.
Thank you.
I'll just look around the room.
No more questions.
I see here and either people can't work the hand raise function online or we don't have any questions online.
If that's the case, I'll I'll turn to you, Mary, Lauren or Susan, if you want to jump in, please do.
Mary, the screen is yours.
OK.
Thanks very much.
The exact breakdown of, of class to munition use in Ukraine is, is, is not something that we can provide in the monitor or Human Rights Watch.
We, we document civilian harm when we can and when we're able to, but we're not able to to, to, to detail every single attack.
We know that at least half of the, well, nearly half of the the provinces or regions across the country which has experienced armed conflict have experienced the use of Class 2 munitions.
We know from the casualty data in 2022 that the the the casualties that Lauren was counting, the vast majority of them were from Russian Class 2 munition attacks.
There were some limited number of people who were killed and wounded by Ukrainian rocket attacks.
Human rights, which we documented the use of Ukrainians, use of class munition rockets on the city of Isiam in the east when it was under Russian occupation.
And the civilians were killed and wounded in their homes, in the parks, outside of their apartment buildings.
And this is what what we raised with Ukraine in the lead up to the transfer decision and with the United States in the lead up to the transfer decision.
It was not a transparent process that was pretty opaque.
A lot of the the decision making around the class diminution transfers was done behind closed doors and congressional briefings without civil society or media present, but with plenty of briefings from the Pentagon about the the apparent benefits and and urgent need to be supplied with cluster munitions.
The US campaign, Human Rights Watch, other groups sent letters to the White House, attempted to meet with National Security Council officials, with State Department, with the Department of Defence, with congressional aides, with congressional representatives.
And we saw, you know, a kind of a, a strong push in Congress as the transfers decision came, especially from the the progressive representatives and then from the the Freedom Caucus representatives.
So on the left and the right, which shows you that the, there's not a lot of satisfaction with how the middle political people are dealing with this in the United States.
We heard, we heard President Biden express regret about the decision to transfer class dominions, how it was such a difficult decision and all of the talking points that the US made.
We also heard more than 20 countries respond at a very **** level.
Prime ministers as of state presidents to to to reiterate that they, their countries had joined the Convention on Class Munitions and that they understand that part of that deal requires discouraging any use and promoting the norms that the convention contains and encouraging countries to join the convention.
That includes the UK presidents and that reflects the presidency that the UK had of the Convention on Class 2 Munitions in 2022, I think, where the United Kingdom worked hard to convince Nigeria to complete its ratification, for South Sudan to complete its succession, for the stockpiles to be destroyed.
Countries that are part of the convention treated extremely seriously, and the work continues in the United States.
There are calls now for other types of classmunitions to be transferred.
We oppose any transfers of classmunitions to any country under any circumstance, the same way that we condemn and oppose any use, And this is what we'll be looking for at the meeting next week, is for the States Parties to to affirm their obligation to never use classmunitions under any circumstance and to condemn any use of classmunitions by any actor.
Last year, they expressed grave concern at the increase in civilian casualties and the humanitarian impact, in particular in relation to the use of class munitions in Ukraine.
So that collective voice is what matters Now.
It's been important to hear the individual countries speak out, but we need to hear the collective voice of the States Parties to the Convention on Class Munitions in order to defend the norm that it is seeking to establish.
Thank you.
Thank you, Mary, Susan and Lauren, I don't see any more questions in the room nor online.
So it falls to me to say thank you so much for all of those of you who've been present both online and here in the room of your questions.
And I think a huge thank you to our fantastic presenters also for responding to the questions you've shared.
I'm confident that they, they'll help to prepare for next week's meeting of states parties.
And I share the hopes that we see an increase in the number of states parties reported in next year's monitor and hopefully a decline in the use and impact of cluster munitions.
Although on that one, I'm looking forward to seeing the, the, the data and I'm, I'm not sure it's going to be the good news that that I'm hoping for with that.
Thank you so much.
I'm very delighted to have been able to moderate this discussion.
I'm sure there'll be more questions for our panellists when we close this briefing.
But for now, thank you so much for the global launch for the Cluster Munition Monitor 2023.
And if you'd like to thank our presenters for the wonderful job they've done, please go ahead and I'll close this meeting.
Thank you.
Thanks very much.