Throughout the debate over cluster munitions over the past few months, 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. There are so many that we needed to tackle this in two parts. You can check out the first part from earlier this week.
Some of the quotes below have been edited for brevity.
Rep. Adam Smith (WA-9): “Russia is not holding back in […] aggressively mining across Ukraine. […] The U.S. ought to be very cautious about where we send [cluster munitions] and we have been. The only place in the world we’re sending them right now is Ukraine.”
Rep. Joe Wilson (SC-2): “Prohibiting munitions with Ukraine would have disastrous impacts on the Ukrainian ability to push back Putin’s barbaric invasion of Ukraine. Russia is currently using every weapon in their arsenal, including cluster munitions […] We are in a conflict with those of rule of gun threatening the rule of law.”
MYTH – While cluster munitions are being used by both the Russian and Ukrainian militaries, they are also being used in Myanmar and Syria by government forces. Beyond current use, the legacy of use of these weapons is still being felt, decades later, in Cambodia, Vietnam, and Laos. Laos is the most heavily bombed country in the world, with over 270 million bomblets dropped during nine years of conflict. Experts estimate that as many as 80 million of them failed to explode, leaving remnants scattered in the countryside and villages, where they remain today.
Supporting the rule of law means supporting the global consensus embodied by the Convention on Cluster Munitions: a total ban on the use, development, and transfer of cluster munitions. Any potential tactical advantage cluster munitions may provide is drastically outweighed by their harm to civilians and the erosion of global norms. Rather than providing cluster munitions, the U.S. must champion a just and secure peace in the region, which can only be achieved through diplomatic means.
Rep. Wilson: “According to the Congressional Research Service, Ukraine abides by five key principles in the usage of the cluster munitions. One, use them only in Ukraine. Two, only in non-urban areas where Russian forces are concentrated. Three, maintain records of weapon use. Four, prioritize those areas for later determining and demining operations. And five, report to Ukraine’s partners about the use of cluster munitions.”
MYTH – By their very nature, these weapons are indiscriminate and therefore no guardrails can fully prevent harm to civilians. While non-urban areas might be less populated now, they will be needed for farming or other civilian use once conflict ends; unexploded ordnance remaining will pose a significant risk to civilians.
The State Department has not publicly disclosed whether use has been effectively contained or if Ukraine is even keeping track of areas of use. As Senators Kyrsten Sinema (AZ) and John Kennedy (LA) noted, despite growing accountability from the Ukrainian government, there is no general oversight on whether weapons provided to Ukraine are used as intended.
Rep. Seth Moulton (MA-6): “If my kids were in Ukraine, I would not want them picking up cluster munitions. But the one thing that I would want even less is for them to be picked up by these criminal Russians, probably kidnapped from their parents sent off to Russia by that criminal oppressive regime, Ukraine has asked for these munitions to save its children, and that’s why we should object to this amendment.”
MYTH – This is not a black and white dichotomy! No child should be threatened with the risk of harm or death from cluster munitions or kidnapping.
All parties should follow the Cluster Munition Convention, the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), the Rome Statute, the Geneva Conventions and other international humanitarian law (IHL), and applicable international human rights law (IHRL) to prevent any harm to children during conflict. All international laws should be respected. Picking and choosing which ones we respect reduces the force of them all.
During the 118th Congress, cluster munitions have been one of the most bipartisan issues to be considered. In spite of the myths that have been shared during the debates over these amendments, each new vote sees new members of Congress join the effort against these weapons.
This is a problem we can solve. The U.S. should join the international consensus, ban the use and transfer of cluster munitions, and accede to the Convention. The safety of civilians and children around the world depends on it.
Lauren Evans was FCNL’s 2023-2024 program assistant for Peacebuilding, assisting the team in advocating for sustainable and nonviolent U.S. foreign policy.
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