Casualties from cluster munitions double in 2016, Syrians most-affected

Even as countries continue to ratify and implement the international treaty prohibiting the use of cluster munitions, casualties from these notorious weapons doubled in the past year, with civilians accounting for nearly all the victims, according to a United Nations-backed civil society report.

The annual monitoring report released by the Cluster Munition Coalition revealed that the use of cluster munitions in war-torn Syria has caused even more civilian casualties.

Of nearly 1,000 victims identified in 10 countries, almost all were from Syria, according to the Cluster Munition Monitor 2017.

"The humanitarian devastation caused by cluster munitions is particularly acute in Syria, where use has continued unabated since mid-2012," said the report's main editor and coordinator of the Landmine and Cluster Munition Monitor initiative Jeff Abramson, warning that the real figure is therefore much higher.

Fellow report editor Loren Persi explained, "The vast majority of those casualties occurred in Syria and mostly during attacks, there was really unrelenting use of cluster munitions in Syria."

The majority of cluster munition casualties since 2013 have occurred in Syria, said Persi. "Actually in 2016, almost 90 percent of the casualties occurred in Syria," she emphasised.

Mr. Abramson stressed that the only sure way to end this insidious menace "is to have all States embrace and adhere to the international ban on these weapons."

The threat from cluster munitions is rarely short-lived, according to the report, which records casualties in places where the weapons have not been used for decades.

Overall, the report identified at least 971 new cluster munition casualties globally in 2016, with 860 of these in Syria. This global number is certainly less than the actual total. Disturbingly, the number of casualties in 2016 is more than double the number recorded in 2015, making it the second-highest annual figure since Cluster Munition Monitor reporting began in 2009, with the highest being in 2013.