Explosive Weapons in Civilian Areas
Two types of explosive weapons—antipersonnel landmines and cluster munitions—have been prohibited outright due to their indiscriminate and devastating effect on civilians but the use of explosive weapons causing wide-area effects in populated areas requires urgent attention too. Today, victims of war are all too often civilians in populated areas, as air strikes, rocket attacks, and artillery shelling in Gaza, Iraq, Libya, Syria, Ukraine and elsewhere show. Civilians in towns and cities in these conflicts are often killed directly by the strike, crushed by the buildings it flattens, or maimed by the unexploded ordnance left behind. The use of imprecise weapons in urban areas has highly destructive consequences. Explosive weapons with wide-area effects should be avoided in populated areas due to the foreseeable harm to civilians.
Human Rights Watch is a founding member of the International Network on Explosive Weapons.
-
Ethiopia: Unlawful Shelling of Tigray Urban Areas
UN Inquiry Needed into Alleged Violations by Warring Parties
-
Armenia: Unlawful Rocket, Missile Strikes on Azerbaijan
Investigate Indiscriminate Attacks, Use of Explosive Weapons in Populated Areas
-
Azerbaijan: Unlawful Strikes in Nagorno-Karabakh
Investigate Alleged Indiscriminate Attacks, Use of Explosive Weapons
-
News
-
Yemen: Houthis Attacking Displaced People’s Camps
Unlawful Shelling in Marib Spurs Displacement, Humanitarian Crisis
-
Afghanistan: Targeted Killings of Civilians Escalate
Investigate Recent Insurgent Attacks on Women, Religious Minorities
-
Statement on Section Four to the Consultations on Political Declaration on the Use of Explosive Weapons in Populated Areas
Delivered by Bonnie Docherty, Senior Researcher
-
Statement on Section Three to the Consultations on Political Declaration on the Use of Explosive Weapons in Populated Areas
Delivered by Steve Goose, Executive Director, on behalf of the International Network on Explosive Weapons
-
Statement on the Preamble to the Consultations on Political Declaration on the Use of Explosive Weapons in Populated Areas
Delivered by Bonnie Docherty, Senior Researcher
-
Unlawful Attacks on Medical Facilities and Personnel in Nagorno-Karabakh
New Research on Three Incidents from 2020 Conflict
-
Talks Restart to Curb Explosive Weapons Use in Populated Areas
Strong Political Declaration Needed to Reduce Civilian Harm
-
-
-
Ethiopia: Unlawful Shelling of Tigray Urban Areas
UN Inquiry Needed into Alleged Violations by Warring Parties
-
-
Yemen: International Justice Efforts Needed
Pandemic, Obstruction of Aid Expose Devastated Healthcare System
