The U.S. Cluster Munition Coalition is deeply dismayed by President Biden’s decision to transfer internationally prohibited cluster munitions for the sixth time in less than 15 months to Ukraine, announced September 25.
“The U.S. transfers of cluster munitions run contrary to the international ban and ignore decades of evidence of civilian harm from these heinous weapons,” said Sera Koulabdara of Legacies of War, Chair of the U.S. Cluster Munition Coalition. “President Biden should respect the fact that cluster munitions are stigmatized weapons outlawed by more than 120 countries and urgently act to align U.S. policy and actions with the Convention on Cluster Munitions.”
The transfer announcement came hours after the Coalition and eighteen partner organizations wrote to President Biden expressing grave concern with current U.S. policy and practice on cluster munitions. The latest transfer follows five previous U.S. transfers of cluster munitions to Ukraine between July 2023 and April 2024.
Unlike the previous announcements, the types of cluster munitions to be sent to Ukraine were not specified in the September 25 announcements by the State Department and the Department of Defense. Previously, the U.S. has transferred cluster munitions delivered by 155mm artillery projectiles and by ballistic missiles (ATACMS).
The Associated Press has reported that the package of U.S. military assistance to Ukraine includes “mid-range cluster bombs." The U.S. stockpiles a range of aging and obsolete air-dropped cluster munitions, including CBU-87 CEM, CBU-97 SFW and CBU-99 Rockeye. The U.S. has provided F-16 combat aircraft to Ukraine, which can deliver these weapons as well as JSOW-A (Joint Stand-off Weapon) glide bombs - including AGM-154A, a cluster munition variant that contains 145 BLU-97 combined effects submunitions.
“The lack of specificity about the type of cluster munitions to be transferred matters because this information helps ensure humanitarian standards are met in clearing submunitions that fail to detonate,” said Koulabdara. “The lack of transparency by the Biden Administration over the types, quantities, failure rates, and transit points for its cluster munition transfers is spurring rumors and speculation.”
“The United States should be a global leader in the abolition of these indiscriminate weapons—not complicit in their use,” said the U.S. Cluster Munition Coalition in their recent letter.
By continuing to transfer U.S. cluster munitions to Ukraine and acting in contradiction to partner nations’ and NATO allies’ express ban on the transfer and use of these weapons, U.S. actions risk weakening the global norm.
At United Nations headquarters on September 22, the United States and other countries endorsed a high-level “Pact for the Future” declaration that expresses “serious concern at the increasing number of actions that are contrary to existing international norms and non-compliance with obligations in the field of disarmament, arms control and non-proliferation.”
The transfer and use of cluster munitions runs contrary to this Pact and to the international norm contained in the Convention on Cluster Munitions. On September 13, 2024, countries that have ratified the convention collectively “condemned any use of cluster munitions by any actor” and found that “any perceived military utility is outweighed by the harm that they cause.” The countries expressed “grave concern at the significant number of civilian casualties resulting from the repeated and well documented use of cluster munitions” since 2021.
The U.S. Cluster Munition Coalition has repeatedly appealed to the Biden administration to answer basic questions on the record regarding the specific types and quantities of cluster munitions transferred, but most of its questions remain unanswered more than a year later.
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Cluster munitions can be fired from the ground by artillery, rockets, missiles, and mortar projectiles, or dropped by aircraft. They open in the air to disperse multiple submunitions or bomblets over a wide area. Many submunitions fail to explode on initial impact, leaving duds that can indiscriminately injure and kill like landmines for years, until they are cleared and destroyed.
The U.S. Cluster Munition Coalition is a coalition of non-governmental organizations working to achieve a comprehensive U.S. ban on cluster munitions as well as U.S. accession to the 2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions, which 124 countries have signed or ratified. Our coalition also calls for sustained U.S. government financial support for the clearance of cluster munition remnants and assistance for victims of the weapons.
Experts for Contact:
Sera Koulabdara, sera@legaciesofwar.org, Chair, US Cluster Munition Coalition and CEO, Legacies of War
Mary Wareham, wareham@hrw.org, Deputy Crisis, Conflict and Arms Director, Human Rights Watch
Ursala Knudsen-Latta, uknudsen-latta@fcnl.org, Legislative Director for Peacebuilding Policy, Friends Committee on National Legislation