Editing Cluster munition (section)

==Threat to civilians==
[[File:Spomenik NATO zrtvama 1.jpg|thumb|180px|Monument to victims of the [[Niš cluster bombing]]]]
While all weapons are dangerous, cluster bombs pose a particular threat to civilians for two reasons: they have a wide area of effect, and they consistently leave behind a large number of unexploded bomblets. The unexploded bomblets can remain dangerous for decades after the end of a conflict. For example, while the United States cluster bombing of Laos stopped in 1973, cluster bombs and other unexploded munitions continued to cause over 100 casualties per year to Laotian civilians {{as of|2009|lc=yes}}.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://legaciesofwar.org/resources/cluster-bomb-fact-sheet|title=Cluster Bomb Fact Sheet|website=Legacies of War|language=en-US|access-date=2019-11-05|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220223132500/http://legaciesofwar.org/legacies-library/cluster-bomb-fact-sheet/|archive-date=2022-02-23|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |last=Lance |first=Rachel |author-link=Rachel Lance |date= |title=The Enduring Danger of Cluster Bombs |url=https://www.wired.com/story/russia-ukraine-cluster-bombs/ |access-date=2 April 2022 |magazine=Wired |issn=1059-1028}}</ref>

Cluster munitions are opposed by many individuals and hundreds of groups, such as the [[Red Cross]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.icrc.org/web/eng/siteeng0.nsf/htmlall/ihl-weapon-news-061106?opendocument|title=International Committee of the Red Cross|date=3 October 2013|access-date=15 May 2018}}</ref> the Cluster Munition Coalition and the [[United Nations]], because of the high number of civilians that have fallen victim to the weapon. Since February 2005, [[Handicap International]] called for cluster munitions to be prohibited and collected hundreds of thousands of signatures to support its call.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.clusterbombs.org/|title=clusterbombs.org|website=www.clusterbombs.org|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130724163113/http://www.clusterbombs.org/|archive-date=2013-07-24|access-date=2022-03-04|url-status=usurped}}</ref> 98% of 13,306 recorded cluster munitions casualties that are{{When|date=October 2023}} registered with Handicap International are civilians, while 27% are children.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://en.handicapinternational.be/index.php?action=article&numero=467&PHPSESSID=f60cf971ac6dee500a0ad9b84daf52dd/|title=konsoleH :: Login|website=en.handicapinternational.be|access-date=15 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171011201445/http://en.handicapinternational.be/index.php?action=article&numero=467&PHPSESSID=f60cf971ac6dee500a0ad9b84daf52dd%2F|archive-date=11 October 2017|url-status=dead}}</ref>

The area affected by a single cluster munition, known as its footprint, can be very large; a single unguided M26 [[M270 Multiple Launch Rocket System|MLRS]] rocket can effectively cover an area of {{Convert|0.23|km2|acre|abbr=on}}.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/land/m26.htm|title=M26 Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS)|access-date=15 May 2018}}</ref> In US and most allied services, the M26 has been replaced by the M30 guided missile fired from the MLRS. The M30 has greater range and accuracy but a smaller area of coverage.{{Cn|date=October 2023}}

Because of the weapon's broad area of effect, they have often been documented as striking both civilian and military objects in the target area. This characteristic of the weapon is particularly problematic for civilians when cluster munitions are used in or near populated areas, as documented in a research report by [[Human Rights Watch]].<ref>{{cite journal|url=http://hrw.org/reports/2003/usa1203/usa1203.pdf|archive-url=https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20060624201843/http://hrw.org/reports/2003/usa1203/usa1203.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-date=June 24, 2006|publisher=Human Rights Watch|title=Off Target: The Conduct of the War and Civilian Casualties in Iraq|date=December 2003|access-date=2009-06-22}}</ref> In some cases, like the [[Zagreb rocket attack]], civilians were deliberately targeted by such weapons.<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://www.un.org/icty/pressreal/2007/pr1162e-summary.htm |publisher=International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia |title=Summary of Judgement for Milan Martic |date=June 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071215084458/http://www.un.org/icty/pressreal/2007/pr1162e-summary.htm |archive-date=December 15, 2007 }}</ref>

===Unexploded ordnance===
[[File:BLU-26 cluster sub-munition.JPG|thumb|Unexploded cluster sub-munition, probably a BLU-26 type. [[Plain of Jars]], Laos.]]

The other serious problem, also common to [[explosive weapon]]s is [[unexploded ordnance]] (UXO) of cluster bomblets left behind after a strike. These bomblets may be [[dud]]s or in some cases the weapons are designed to detonate at a later stage. In both cases, the surviving bomblets are live and can explode when handled, making them a serious threat to civilians and military personnel entering the area. In effect, the UXOs can function like land mines.

Even though cluster bombs are designed to explode prior to or on impact, there are always some individual submunitions that do not explode on impact. As of 2000, the US-made MLRS with [[M-26 artillery rocket|M26]] warhead and M77 submunitions which were supposed to have a 5% failure rate, but studies have shown that some have a much higher rate.<ref>1 Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics, "Unexploded Ordnance Report," table 2-3, p. 5. No date, but transmitted to the U.S. Congress on February 29, 2000</ref> The rate in acceptance tests prior to the [[Gulf War]] for this type ranged from 2% to  23% for rockets cooled to {{convert|-25|°F|°C|abbr=on}} before testing.<ref>{{cite journal
|url=http://archive.gao.gov/t2pbat5/149647.pdf |publisher=US General Accounting Office |title=Operation Desert Storm: Casualties Caused by Improper Handling of Unexploded U.S. Submunitions |date=August 1993 |access-date=2006-09-01 }}</ref> The [[M483A1]] [[DPICM]] artillery-delivered cluster bombs have a reported failure rate of 14%.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.hrw.org/backgrounder/arms/cluster031803.htm|title=Cluster Munitions a Foreseeable Hazard in Iraq|work=Human Rights Watch Briefing Paper|access-date=2011-07-13}}</ref> In July 2023, the failure rate of Russian cluster bombs during the [[2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine]] was reported to be at 40 percent or more.<ref name=nyt202307/>

Given that each cluster bomb can contain hundreds of bomblets and be fired in volleys, even a small failure rate can lead each strike to leave behind hundreds or thousands of UXOs scattered across the strike area. For example, after the [[2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict]], UN experts estimated that as many as one million unexploded bomblets may contaminate the hundreds of cluster munition strike sites in Lebanon.<ref>{{cite news|title='Million bomblets' in S Lebanon|publisher=BBC|date=2006-09-26|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5382192.stm|access-date=2006-09-26}}</ref>
[[File:M77 Cluster Munition With Hand.jpg|thumb|M77 submunition of type fired against Lebanon in 1986. Each MLRS rocket has 644 M77 packed in the warhead.]]
In addition, some cluster bomblets, such as the [[BLU-97/B]] used in the [[CBU-87]], are brightly colored to increase their visibility and warn off civilians. However, the yellow color, coupled with their small and nonthreatening appearance, is attractive to young children who wrongly believe them to be toys. This problem was exacerbated in the [[War in Afghanistan (2001–2021)]], when US forces dropped humanitarian rations from airplanes with similar yellow-colored packaging as the BLU-97/B, yellow being the NATO standard colour for high explosive filler in air weapons. The rations packaging was later changed first to blue and then to clear in the hope of avoiding such hazardous confusion.{{Cn|date=October 2023}}

As of 1993, the US military was developing new cluster bombs that it claimed could have a much lower (less than 1%) failure rate.<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://apps.dtic.mil/descriptivesum/Y2005/Army/0603778A.pdf|publisher=Defense Technical Information Center|title=Army RDT&E Budget Item Justification, Item No. 177, MLRS Product Improvement Program|date=February 1993|access-date=2006-09-01|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070628035510/http://www.dtic.mil/descriptivesum/Y2005/Army/0603778A.pdf|archive-date=2007-06-28|url-status=live}}</ref> Sensor-fused weapons containing a limited number of submunitions that are capable of autonomously engaging armored targets may provide a viable if costly alternative to cluster munitions that will allow multiple target engagement with one shell or bomb while avoiding the civilian deaths and injuries consistently documented from the use of cluster munitions.{{Cn|date=October 2023}}

In the 1980s the Spanish firm [[Esperanza y Cia]] developed a 120&nbsp;mm caliber mortar bomb that contained 21 anti-armor submunitions. What made the 120&nbsp;mm "Espin" unique was the electrical impact fusing system which eliminated dangerous duds. The system relied on a capacitor in each submunition that was charged by a wind generator in the nose of the projectile after being fired. If the electrical fuse fails to function on impact, approximately 5 minutes later the capacitor bleeds out, therefore neutralizing the submunition's electronic fuse system.<ref>Jane's Ammunition Handbook 1994 page 362</ref>

====Civilian deaths====
* In Vietnam, people are{{When|date=October 2023}} still being killed as a result of cluster bombs and other objects left by the US and Vietnamese military forces. Hundreds of people are{{When|date=October 2023}} killed or injured annually by unexploded ordnance.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20060418041034/http://clearpathinternational.org/cpiblog/archives/cat_vietnam.php Clear Path International: Assisting Landmine Survivors, their Families and their Communities]</ref>
* 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{{When|date=October 2023}}.<ref>[http://www.icrc.org/Web/Eng/siteeng0.nsf/html/laos-photos-080508 Laos: the enduring threat from cluster munitions] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100822043420/http://www.icrc.org/Web/Eng/siteeng0.nsf/html/laos-photos-080508 |date=August 22, 2010 }}</ref>
* Within the first year after the end of the [[Kosovo War]], more than 100 civilians died from unexploded bombs and mines. During the war, [[NATO]] planes dropped nearly 1,400 cluster bombs in Kosovo. Cluster bombs make up to 40% of mines and unexploded bombs in Kosovo.<ref>{{cite news| url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/761092.stm | work=BBC News | title=Kosovo mine expert criticises Nato | date=2000-05-23 | access-date=2010-04-30}}</ref>
* 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.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.hrw.org/english/docs/2006/07/24/isrlpa13798.htm|title=Israeli Cluster Munitions Hit Civilians in Lebanon (Human Rights Watch, 24-7-2006)|website=www.hrw.org|date=24 July 2006|access-date=15 May 2018|archive-date=13 November 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081113070829/http://www.hrw.org/english/docs/2006/07/24/isrlpa13798.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.landmineaction.org/resources/Foreseeable%20Harm.pdf|title=UKWGLM_18377.pdf<!-- Bot generated title -->|access-date=15 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120411125949/http://www.landmineaction.org/resources/Foreseeable%20Harm.pdf|archive-date=2012-04-11|url-status=dead}}</ref>

====Locations====
[[File:Stop cluster bombs march.jpg|thumb| [[Ban Advocates]] from [[Afghanistan]] and [[Ethiopia]] demonstrating outside of the Dublin conference]]

Countries and [[Territorial dispute|disputed territories]] (listed in italic) that have been affected by cluster munitions as of August 2023 include:<ref name="TheMonitor2019">{{cite book |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |date=August 2019 |title=Cluster Munition Monitor 2019 |url=http://www.the-monitor.org/media/3047840/Cluster-Munition-Monitor-2019_online.pdf |publisher=International Campaign to Ban Landmines – Cluster Munition Coalition |pages=37–39 |isbn=978-2-9701146-5-9 |access-date=2020-02-17 |archive-date=2023-11-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231130165115/http://the-monitor.org/media/3047840/Cluster-Munition-Monitor-2019_online.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>{{Failed verification|date=October 2023}}

{{Div col|colwidth=12em}}
* [[Afghanistan]]
* [[Angola]]
* [[Azerbaijan]] (mainly ''[[Nagorno Karabakh]]'')
* [[Bosnia & Herzegovina]]
* [[Cambodia]]
* [[Chad]]
* [[Croatia]]
* [[Democratic Republic of the Congo]]
* ''[[Donetsk People's Republic]]''<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.hrw.org/news/2014/10/20/ukraine-widespread-use-cluster-munitions |title=Ukraine: Widespread Use of Cluster Munitions |publisher=Human Rights Watch |date=20 October 2014 |access-date=14 July 2023}}</ref>
* [[Eritrea]]<ref name="profile-eritrea" />
* [[Ethiopia]]<ref name="profile-ethiopia" />
* [[Germany]]
* [[Iran]]
* [[Iraq]]
* [[Laos]]
* [[Lebanon]]
* [[Libya]]
* ''[[Luhansk People's Republic]]''<ref>{{cite news |last1=Hudson |first1=John |last2=Khurshudyan |first2=Isabelle |title=Ukraine begins firing U.S.-provided cluster munitions at Russian forces |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/07/20/cluster-munitions-ukraine-war-russia/ |newspaper=Washington Post |date=20 July 2023}}</ref>
* [[Malta]]<ref>{{cite web | url=https://timesofmalta.com/articles/view/boy-finds-lethal-wwii-bomb-in-qormi-valley.279340 | title=Boy finds lethal WWII bomb in Qormi valley | date=29 October 2009 }}</ref>
* [[Montenegro]]
* [[Serbia]]
* [[South Sudan]]
* [[Sudan]]
* [[Syria]]
* [[Tajikistan]]
* [[Ukraine]]
* [[United Kingdom]]<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/the-northerner/2013/jun/21/butterfly-bombs-luftwaffe-cleethorpes-grimsby | title=Remembering the terror the Luftwaffe's butterfly bombs brought to the North | newspaper=The Guardian | date=21 June 2013 | last1=Rogers | first1=James I. }}</ref><ref>http://www.grimsbytelegraph.co.uk/butterfly-bombs-terror/story-19270886-detail/story.html{{Dead link|date=August 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>
* [[Vietnam]]
* [[Yemen]]
* ''[[Kosovo]]''
* ''[[Western Sahara]]''
{{Div col end}}

As of August 2019, it is unclear, whether [[Colombia]] and [[Georgia (country)|Georgia]] are contaminated.<ref name="TheMonitor2019" /> [[Albania]], the [[Republic of the Congo]], [[Grenada]], [[Guinea-Bissau]], [[Mauritania]], [[Mozambique]], [[Norway]], [[Zambia]], [[Uganda]], and [[Thailand]] completed clearance of areas contaminated by cluster munition remnants in previous years.<ref name="TheMonitor2019" />