Handicap International [to 25 October 2014]

October 22, 2014
Ukrainian conflict: intolerable use of cluster munitions
The Ukrainian army recently used cluster munitions in densely populated areas in its conflict against pro-Russian partisans, according to a recent report by Human Rights Watch (HRW). The city of Donestsk was shelled twice, on 2 and 5 October 2014, killing one person, a Swiss employee of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), and injuring six others. The report documented the “widespread use” of cluster munitions in the Ukrainian conflict, which were deployed by the various parties to the conflict at least 12 times.

“We are calling on the Ukrainian authorities to conduct a serious and comprehensive enquiry to find out who is responsible for these attacks and to put an end to the use of cluster munitions,” says Marion Libertucci, head of advocacy at Handicap International. “The parties to the conflict must refrain from using these weapons, which indiscriminately kill and maim civilians, and which have been banned under an international treaty (the Oslo Convention) since 2010. We are also calling on Member States of the European Union to unconditionally condemn the use of cluster munitions, which have been deployed for the first time on the European continent since the conflict in Kosovo in 1999, and which must not go unpunished. The EU, which is currently examining the possibility of providing Ukraine with an additional loan of two billion euros, cannot remain silent.”..