The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) demanded on Monday that the world immediately stop using cluster bombs as the indiscriminate civilian deaths caused by the weapons far outweigh any possible military advantages.
That call was echoed yesterday by the UN's top humanitarian official, who demanded an immediate moratorium on the use of cluster bombs.
"As long as there is no effective ban, these weapons will continue to disproportionately affect civilians, maiming and killing women, children, and other vulnerable groups," UN Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Jan Egeland said.
``This freeze is essential until the international community puts in place effective legal instruments to address urgent humanitarian concerns about their use,'' Egeland said in an address to countries meeting in Geneva to review a 26-year-old treaty controlling conventional weapons.
On Monday the ICRC said it was stepping up its campaign against the weapons as a result of Israel's unprecedented use of them during its month-long war with Lebanon this summer. Russia and the US have also resisted moves to eliminate the weapons.
"The problems associated with cluster munitions are not new," said Philip Spoerri, director of international law for the ICRC, which is widely seen as the guardian of the Geneva Convention on conduct in war.
"In nearly every conflict in which they have been used, significant numbers of cluster munitions have failed to detonate as intended and have instead left a long-term and deadly legacy of contamination," he said.
Cluster bomb projectiles -- or submunitions about the size of an orange or a soft-drink can -- are packed into artillery shells or bombs dropped from aircraft. One cluster bomb container fired to target airfields or tanks and soldiers typically scatters some 200 to 600 of the explosives over an area the size of a football field.
Human rights groups have estimated that Israel dropped cluster bombs containing as many as 4 million bomblets in Lebanon during its war against Hezbollah.
Usually 10 to 15 percent -- but in some cases up to 80 percent -- of the devices fail to explode immediately. Those that do not explode right away may detonate later at the slightest disturbance.
The impact on children is especially bad as the tiny bombs are usually an eye-catching yellow with little parachutes attached.
"It is simply unacceptable that [civilians] should return to homes and fields littered with explosive debris," Spoerri said.
"The ICRC believes that the time has come for strong international action to end the predictable pattern of human tragedy associated with cluster munitions," he said.
The ICRC also said that casualty data from Kosovo showed that cluster bomb submunitions had claimed five times as many victims among children under 14 as had land mines.
While mine victims often survived, the stronger explosive force of cluster bombs means they were much more likely to lead to death.
The US government has signed defense cooperation agreements with Japan and the Philippines to boost the deterrence capabilities of countries in the first island chain, a report by the National Security Bureau (NSB) showed. The main countries on the first island chain include the two nations and Taiwan. The bureau is to present the report at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee tomorrow. The US military has deployed Typhon missile systems to Japan’s Yamaguchi Prefecture and Zambales province in the Philippines during their joint military exercises. It has also installed NMESIS anti-ship systems in Japan’s Okinawa
‘WIN-WIN’: The Philippines, and central and eastern European countries are important potential drone cooperation partners, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung said Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) in an interview published yesterday confirmed that there are joint ventures between Taiwan and Poland in the drone industry. Lin made the remark in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper). The government-backed Taiwan Excellence Drone International Business Opportunities Alliance and the Polish Chamber of Unmanned Systems on Wednesday last week signed a memorandum of understanding in Poland to develop a “non-China” supply chain for drones and work together on key technologies. Asked if Taiwan prioritized Poland among central and eastern European countries in drone collaboration, Lin
The Chien Feng IV (勁蜂, Mighty Hornet) loitering munition is on track to enter flight tests next month in connection with potential adoption by Taiwanese and US armed forces, a government source said yesterday. The kamikaze drone, which boasts a range of 1,000km, debuted at the Taipei Aerospace and Defense Technology Exhibition in September, the official said on condition of anonymity. The Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology and US-based Kratos Defense jointly developed the platform by leveraging the engine and airframe of the latter’s MQM-178 Firejet target drone, they said. The uncrewed aerial vehicle is designed to utilize an artificial intelligence computer
Renewed border fighting between Thailand and Cambodia showed no signs of abating yesterday, leaving hundreds of thousands of displaced people in both countries living in strained conditions as more flooded into temporary shelters. Reporters on the Thai side of the border heard sounds of outgoing, indirect fire yesterday. About 400,000 people have been evacuated from affected areas in Thailand and about 700 schools closed while fighting was ongoing in four border provinces, said Thai Rear Admiral Surasant Kongsiri, a spokesman for the military. Cambodia evacuated more than 127,000 villagers and closed hundreds of schools, the Thai Ministry of Defense said. Thailand’s military announced that
RSS