Saturday, November 21, 2015

Civilian deaths and ongoing dangers from unexploded bomblets from clusters

The Viet Nam War went on (formally) from around the early 1960s until around 1974. This is already 41 years ago and civilians are still dying now from unexploded bomblets. This is how Syria and Yemen will also be 41 years from now.

Civilian deaths from unexploded cluster bomblets

  • In Vietnam, people are still being killed as a result of cluster bombs and other objects left by the US and Vietnamese military forces. Estimates range up to 300 people killed annually by unexploded ordnance.[62]
  • Some 270 million cluster submunitions were dropped on Laos in the 1960s and 1970s; approximately one third of these submunitions failed to explode and continue to pose a threat today.[63]
  • During the 1999 NATO war against Yugoslavia U.S. and Britain dropped 1,400 cluster bombs in Kosovo. Within the first year after the end of the war more than 100 civilians died from unexploded British and American bombs. Unexploded cluster bomblets caused more civilian deaths than landmines.[64]
  • Israel used cluster bombs in Lebanon in 1978 and in the 1980s. Those weapons used more than two decades ago by Israel continue to affect Lebanon.[65] During the 2006 war in Lebanon, Israel fired large numbers of cluster bombs in Lebanon, containing an estimated more than 4 million cluster submunitions. In the first month following the ceasefire, unexploded cluster munitions killed or injured an average of 3-4 people per day.[66]

Areas with significant unexploded cluster bomb submunitions


Ban Advocates from Afghanistan and Ethiopia demonstrating outside of the Dublin conference
Countries that have been affected by cluster munitions include:
end partial quote from:
  • Convention on Cluster Munitions.[citation needed] Incendiary cluster bombs are intended to start fires, just as conventional incendiary bombs (also called
    70 KB (7,964 words) - 02:33, 17 November 2015
 

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