The spotlight has been thrown on Cluster Bombs and Thermobaric weapons, their use, and their implications in the current Russia-Ukraine conflict. Human Rights organizations including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have accused Russia of using these weapons. As per international humanitarian law, using such weapons that act indiscriminately and can cause civilian casualties is considered a war crime. International humanitarian law aims to minimize the impacts of warfare by protecting non-combatants and regulating the conduct and means of warfare.
Understanding Cluster Munitions
Cluster munition refers to a type of conventional weapon designed to disperse or release numerous explosive submunitions, each weighing less than 20 kilograms. These are non-precision weapons, created to impact a large area and inflict harm indiscriminately on humans as well as destroy infrastructure. These can be launched from an aircraft or a spinning projectile, scattering bomblets over a wide region.
Unfortunately, many of these bomblets remain unexploded and hidden on the ground, constituting a long-term risk to civilians. The Convention on Cluster Munitions identifies such “cluster munition remnants” which may include failed or abandoned munitions, unexploded submunitions, and unexploded bomblets.
The Power of Thermobaric Weapons
Thermobaric weapons, also known as vacuum bombs or fuel air explosives, operate in a two-stage process creating an expansive, high-temperature blast. They are significantly more destructive than conventional bombs of comparable size. Upon target impact, the first explosion ruptures the bomb’s fuel container, disseminating a cloud of fuel and metal particles. The second explosion ignites this cloud into an enormous fireball with blast waves potent enough to demolish reinforced structures and vaporize humans.
The Convention on Cluster Munitions
The United Nations developed the Convention on Cluster Munitions to ban the use, production, transfer, and stockpiling of such munitions. Adopted in Dublin, Ireland in 2008, and enacted in 2010, the Convention provides a cooperation framework to ensure adequate assistance to survivors, clearance of contaminated zones, risk reduction education, and destruction of stockpiles. At present, it has 110 State Parties and 13 Signatory States. Countries ratifying the convention are legally-bound not to use, develop, procure, store, or transfer cluster munitions. However, several countries, including India, the US, Russia, China, Pakistan, and Israel, are not parties to the Convention.
Thermobaric Weapons and International Law
While there is no international law or agreement banning vacuum bombs, their use against civilians in populated areas, schools, or hospitals can attract punitive action under the Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907. The Hague Conventions, resulting from international conferences held at The Hague in the Netherlands, regulates the laws and customs of war, defining belligerent conduct rules during hostilities.
