Cluster Munitions: Ban Treaty Under Pressure. New Global Report Highlights Rising Civilian Casualties

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In 2025 werden wereldwijd ten minste 1.063 mensen gedood of zijn ernstig gewond geraakt door clustermunitie. Dit cijfer behoort tot de hoogste jaartotalen die de Cluster Munition Coalition in haar jaarlijkse Cluster Munition Monitor heeft geregistreerd.

Clustermunitie verspreidt doorgaans meerdere explosieve submunities over een groot gebied. Veel daarvan ontploffen niet bij de eerste inslag, waardoor er niet-ontplofte munitie achterblijft die jarenlang, net als landmijnen, willekeurig mensen kan verwonden en doden, totdat ze worden gevonden en vernietigd.

De 124 landen die lid zijn van het verdrag inzake een verbod op clustermunitie hebben tijdens de toetsingsconferentie van 14 tot en met 18 september 2026 in de Laotiaanse hoofdstad Vientiane de productie, verkoop, overdracht en het gebruik van clustermunitie door andere landen streng veroordeeld.

Hopelijk kan het verdrag ook de volgende jaren standhouden in de huidige turbulente geopolitieke wereldorde waarin internationale rechtsregels meer en meer met de voeten worden getreden. Over Mali en Litouwen maakte de conferentie zich bijzonder ongerust. Litouwen heeft zich als eerste verdragsstaat in maart 2025 zelfs teruggetrokken. Een lichtend voorbeeld voor een EU-lidstaat!

Cluster Munition Monitor 2026

An increase in civilian deaths and injuries caused by cluster munitions should trigger united action among the 124 countries that are members of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, Human Rights Watch said on 8 September on the release of the Cluster Munition Monitor 2026 by the Cluster Munition Coalition. Human Rights Watch is a founding member of the coalition and contributed to the report.

The 150-page report assesses all countries’ adherence to the 2008 convention. Cluster munitions killed or injured at least 1,063 people globally in 2025. This figure is among the highest annual totals recorded by the Cluster Munition Coalition.

The actual number is most likely higher as many casualties go unreported. New casualties were recorded in nine countries in 2025: Afghanistan, Cambodia, Iraq, Laos, Lebanon, Myanmar, Russia, Syria, and Ukraine.

Cluster munitions continued to disproportionately affect civilians, whether from direct attacks or the remnants they leave behind. Civilians accounted for 87 percent of casualties recorded for 2025, where the civilian status was recorded.

“It’s critically important for countries to renew their commitment to the international treaty that seeks to rid the world of the scourge of cluster munitions,” said Verity Coyle, deputy crisis, conflict and arms director at Human Rights Watch. “The clearest way to do that is for all convention member states to condemn continued production, stockpiling, and transfer of cluster munitions.”

In recent months, both the United States and Türkiye have disclosed plans to transfer cluster munitions to Ukraine. Both Russia and Ukraine have used cluster munitions during the war in Ukraine. Lithuania’s withdrawal from the treaty, the first member state to do so, became final in March 2025.

Third five-year Review Conference in Vientiane

The country delegations meeting at the convention’s Third five-year Review Conference in Vientiane, Laos on September 14-18, 2026, should condemn the production, transfer, and use of cluster munitions by other countries and reaffirm their commitment to pressing for universal support for the ban treaty.

Laos hosted the first meeting of states parties to the treaty in 2011.

There has been no confirmed use of cluster munitions by any state party since the convention was adopted in May 2008. Cluster munitions were used by non-state parties Iran, Myanmar, Russia, Thailand, and Ukraine during the reporting period of mid-2025 to mid-2026.

Iran repeatedly used cluster munitions in Israel in 2026, while Thailand used them in Cambodia in 2025 in the context of their border conflict. Cluster munitions were used in northern Mali in May 2026, but it was not possible to confirm who used the weapons.

Cluster munitions can be fired from the ground by artillery, rockets, missiles, or mortars, or they can be dropped by aircraft. They typically open in the air, dispersing multiple explosive submunitions or bomblets over a wide area.

Due to their wide area effect, the weapon cannot distinguish between civilians and combatants, especially when they are used in populated areas. In addition, many submunitions fail to explode on initial impact, leaving unexploded duds that can indiscriminately injure and kill—like landmines—for years, until they are found and destroyed.

Convention on Cluster Munitions

The Convention on Cluster Munitions prohibits the use, production, transfer, and stockpiling of cluster munitions and requires the clearance of explosive remnants. The Third Review Conference will address the potential for expanding treaty membership, closing funding gaps for explosive ordnance clearance programs, and providing assistance to affected communities.

The Convention on Cluster Munitions has 112 states parties and 12 signatories. The most recent country to accede to the treaty was Vanuatu in September 2025. Prior to that, South Sudan and Nigeria were the last countries to become parties, joining in 2023.

During the current reporting period there was evidence of cluster munition production in China, India, Israel, Myanmar, North Korea, Poland, Romania, Russia, and South Korea.

Eighteen countries outside of the treaty actively produce cluster munitions, maintain the capacity to do so, or have not formally committed to never producing them.

Approximately 116 million dollar in international and national funding was provided in 2025 to address the impact of cluster munition contamination in states parties to the convention.

The US foreign assistance freeze in February 2025 disrupted the clearance of cluster munition remnants in several regions, notably in Southeast Asia. Subsequent grant terminations reduced clearance capacity in Afghanistan, Iraq, and South Sudan. Other major donors have also begun to reduce allocations and narrowed their geographic focus in response to changing political priorities.

“In the face of the continued use of cluster munitions and rising civilian casualties, member countries to the convention need to send a clear message that they will stand firm in their commitment to end all use of these indiscriminate weapons,” Coyle said.

The Cluster Munition Monitor 2026 is the 17th annual monitoring report by the Cluster Munition Coalition, the global coalition of non-governmental organizations co-founded by Human Rights Watch in 2003. The report will be presented to countries attending the Third Review Conference of the Convention on Cluster Munitions in Vientiane, Laos on September 14-18.

Dit artikel verscheen op dinsdag 8 september 2026 op de website van Human Rights Watch (HRW): https://www.hrw.org/news/2026/09/08/cluster-munitions-ban-treaty-under-pressure

Lees ook:

  • For more information on cluster munitions, please visit: https://icblcmc.org/about-cmc  International Campaign to Ban Landmines – Cluster Munition Coalition (ICBL-CMC), Avenue de France 23, CH-1202 Geneva, Switzerland, Email: info@​icblcmc.​org, General Inquiries: +41 22 920 03 25
  • Cluster Munition Ban Holds Firm: States Condemn Any Use as Thailand Admits Use and Mali Faces Calls to Investigate, Vientiane, September 18, 2026 https://icblcmc.org/our-impact/cluster-munition-ban-holds-firm-states-condemn-any-use-as-thailand-admits-use-and-mali-faces-calls-to-investigate
  • The Cluster Munition Coalition welcomed the strong response from several States Parties that expressed concern about the reported use and called for an investigation. While Mali rejected the allegations, it told the Conference it was willing to collaborate on efforts to establish the facts. In its compliance statement, the CMC urged Mali to ensure the investigation is rigorous, impartial and transparent, and to take steps to prevent any further use on its territory, including by adopting national implementation legislation. As a State Party, Mali is prohibited from using cluster munitions under any circumstances, and from assisting, encouraging or inducing anyone else to do so.
  • States Parties also once again expressed deep regret over Lithuania’s withdrawal from the Convention in 2025, the first-ever case of withdrawal of a State from a multilateral humanitarian disarmament treaty prohibiting a whole class of weapons. They noted the negative repercussions the withdrawal could have on humanitarian disarmament instruments and international humanitarian law and committed to step up efforts to universalize the Convention and its norms.

Lees ook (inhoud september 2026)