Syllabus: GS 2 – International Relations
Context
Decision by the United States to send cluster munitions to Ukraine, as part of a new military aid package to bolster Kyiv’s war efforts against Russia, has raked up controversy.
Content
What are cluster munitions?
- A cluster munition, or cluster bomb, is a weapon containing multiple explosive submunitions.
- Submunitions are essentially grenades with tail fins or a streamer to help them land in the right orientation.
- Cluster munitions can be in the form of artillery shells, rockets, or air-delivered munitions
- Cluster munitions are dropped from aircraft or fired from the ground or sea, opening up in mid-air to release tens or hundreds of submunitions, which can saturate an area up to the size of several football fields.
- Anybody within the strike area of the cluster munition, be they military or civilian, is very likely to be killed or seriously injured.
What is the reason behind Ukraine’s demand for cluster weapons?
- Cluster munitions can be used to target concentrations of Russian troops and vehicles, as well as to disrupt their movements and operations.
Why cluster munitions controversial?
- Cluster munitions are controversial because the submunitions have high dud rates.
- The dud rate is a term used to describe the percentage of submunitions or bomblets that fail to explode when a cluster munition is deployed.
- Cluster munitions are indiscriminate weapons that cannot distinguish between civilians and combatants, and violate international humanitarian law.
- Cluster munitions also leave behind many unexploded submunitions that act like landmines, endangering civilians for years and even decades.
- Cluster munitions also harm the environment and the economy of the affected areas, making recovery and reconstruction more difficult.
- For these reasons, the Convention on Cluster Munitions was established.
Convention on Cluster Munitions (CCM)
- The Convention on Cluster Munitions is an international treaty of more than 100 states.
- The convention was adopted on 30 May 2008 in Dublin and was opened for signature on 3 December 2008 in Oslo. It entered into force on 1 August 2010
- Article 1 of the CCM prohibits all use, production, transfer and stockpiling of cluster munitions.
- However, the treaty is not universal since important countries such as the U.S., Russia, China, Israel, and India have not signed the CCM. Ukraine is also not a member.
Way forward
- The use of cluster munitions is not a justified one. Cluster munitions are abhorrent weapons that cause more harm than good, and that should be banned by all countries.
- Ukraine and Russia should join the Convention on Cluster Munitions, as well as seek other ways to resolve the conflict peacefully.
Related topics
Russia- Ukraine Conflict
- The Russo-Ukrainian War is a continuing conflict that began in 2014 between Russia and Ukraine.
- The conflict has included naval incidents, cyber warfare, and increased political tensions over the first eight years.
- In 2022, Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The key reasons for the conflict between Russia and Ukraine are
- Russia wants to keep Ukraine and other former Soviet nations out of NATO, while Ukraine wants to join the alliance.
- Russia believes that if Ukraine joins NATO, it could attempt to take back Crimea.
- Putin wants to restore Moscow’s influence throughout the post-Soviet space.
How the US is helping Ukraine in its war against Russia
- Providing billions in aid, including military, humanitarian, and budgetary aid.
- Imposing economic sanctions against Russian government officials, companies, and wealthy elites.
- Supplying weapons systems, training, and intelligence to Ukrainian commanders.
Indo-US deals over Indo-Russian defense
- India is the world’s biggest arms importer.
- India bought weapons worth over $60 billion in the last 20 years, of which 65% or nearly $39 billion were from Russia, according to Stockholm International Peace Research Institute data.
- India and Russia have a strong defense partnership, with several major defense deals signed in recent years.
- These include the purchase of the S-400 anti-missile system , the proposal to acquire three refurbished Kilo-class submarines, the manufacturing of T-90S battle tanks, and the production of AK-203 rifles.
- India and the US have signed several defense agreements in recent years, including the Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement (BECA) on Geospatial Cooperation in 2020.
- Other agreements between India and the US include the Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA) in 2016, which allows each country’s military to replenish from the other’s bases, and the Communications Compatibility and Security Agreement (COMCASA), which enables India to procure specialized equipment for encrypted communications for US-origin military platforms.
Thermobaric Weapons
- A thermobaric bomb (also called a vacuum or aerosol bomb – or fuel air explosive) consists of a fuel container with two separate explosive charges.
- This can be launched as a rocket or dropped as a bomb from aircraft.
- There are no international laws specifically banning their use, but if a country uses them to target civilian populations in built-up areas, schools or hospitals, then it could be convicted of a war crime under the Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907.
- The US also used them in Afghanistan. First, in 2001 to try to destroy al-Qaeda forces hiding in the caves of the Tora Bora mountains, and in 2017, against Islamic State forces.
- Russia used them in its war in Chechnya in 1999 and was condemned by Human Rights Watch for doing so.
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