Cluster munitions rank among the most ghastly weapons of war commonly found in arsenals around the world. Dropped from the air or launched from the ground, they explode in midair and release as many as 2,000 submunitions that carpet-bomb targeted areas.
What makes these weapons so reprehensible is their ability to kill and maim indiscriminately. Because they disperse over vast areas, they place civilians at considerable risk — and not only during attacks. Some bomblets fail to explode immediately and lie dormant only to suddenly injure or kill when disturbed — often by children who mistake them for toys and sometimes years after a conflict has ended. According to NGO Handicap International, civilians make up 98 percent of cluster-bomb victims, and almost one-third of them are children.
An international treaty that includes prohibitions on the use, production, stockpiling and transfer of cluster bombs, the U.N. Convention on Cluster Munitions was adopted by 107 nations, including Japan, on May 30, 2008, in Dublin. In December of that year it was signed by Japan and 93 other states. To take effect, however, the treaty had to be ratified by 30 countries. On Feb. 16, U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki Moon announced that milestone had been reached. The treaty will enter into force Aug. 1.