Landmines

President Joe Biden announced on November 20 that the United States plans to transfer indiscriminate antipersonnel landmines to Ukraine. These weapons threaten civilians, particularly children – in 2023, civilians made up 84% of all recorded casualties from antipersonnel landmines (APLs). Of civilians hurt, over a third of them were children.

Traveling throughout the Middle East in January, FCNL’s Bridget Moix and Hassan El-Tayyab saw firsthand how the regional violence sparked by the Isarel-Gaza war was getting worse daily. Reflecting on their experience, they warned that these escalations would “continue until there is a ceasefire.”

The months that have passed since then have proven their words true and exacted an enormous human toll. Today, the region is closer to the brink of a major war than ever.

Throughout the debate over this issue, many members of Congress spoke about cluster munitions, with varying degrees of accuracy. Here, we will separate the myths from the facts about the use and transfer of cluster munitions.

Throughout the debate over this issue, many members of Congress spoke about cluster munitions, with varying degrees of accuracy. Here, we will separate the myths from the facts about the use and transfer of cluster munitions.

At a school in Ukraine, four-year olds learn not to touch any of the colorful debris in their backyards. In a rural community in Zimbabwe, farmers and cattle risk their lives going out to graze.

The United States’ continued support of Ukraine has put the morality of cluster munitions squarely in the spotlight.

Over the last 18 months, there has been growing bipartisan movement in the House toward prohibiting the production, sale, transfer, and use of cluster munitions.

FCNL deplored the Biden Administration’s short-sighted and dangerous decision to supply cluster munitions for the war in Ukraine.

The majority of the world agrees that the humanitarian consequences and civilian harm caused by cluster munitions, which can kill anyone and everyone in their wide path, are unacceptable. Despite this global understanding, the United States remains an outlier in allowing the continued production and use of these immoral weapons. Now, some lawmakers are urging the Biden Administration to send cluster munitions to Ukraine, disregarding the global prohibition of these weapons and the significant danger they pose to civilians.

Transferring the weapons may bring tactical benefits but would be a strategic disaster.