Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Monday reported that the Iranian The government has repeatedly used “inherently indiscriminate.” cluster munitions in ballistic missile attacks Israel since the Iran-Israel conflict began on February 28th. At least four civilians were killed in the repeated attacks, which violated the law, HRW said Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions of 1949, Customary international humanitarian law (CIHL) and other international laws.
“Iran’s use of cluster munitions in populated areas of Israel poses a foreseeable and persistent danger to civilians,” he said Patrick ThompsonCrisis, conflict and weapons researcher at Human Rights Watch. “Cluster munition bomblets are scattered over a wide area, making them unlawful, indiscriminate and a violation of the Laws of war.”
Cluster munitions are a type of explosive weapon that fires smaller submunitions (often called bomblets). It is designed to break up in the air and randomly disperse the smaller explosives over a large area. As a result, they are Indiscriminate in nature as the scattered explosives do not distinguish between military personnel and civilians, making this nearly impossible to avoid civilian casualties when used in densely populated areas. Numerous submunitions often fail to explode on impact and leave behind dangerous “unexploded bombs” that have a similar effect to landmines. They can also remain in the ground for long periods of time, posing a serious threat to civilians long after the conflict has ended.
“The Israeli government said at least 16 civilians in Israel and four in the West Bank were killed by rocket fire. Nine of the victims in Israel were killed in one fell swoop.” Ballistic missile attack on March 1 in the city of Beit Shemesh, including three children,” HRW said.
Article 51 paragraph 4 Additional Protocol I to the 1949 Geneva Conventions prohibits indiscriminate attacks on civilians “unless and as long as they are directly involved in hostilities.” The section defines indiscriminate attacks as those that are not or cannot be directed at a specific military target. Rule 1 The CIHL also stipulates that parties to a conflict must distinguish between civilians and combatants and that attacks must not be directed against civilians.
These protective measures are intended to ensure the safety of civilians and other protected parties in times of war and in all countries affected by violent conflict. If countries are not held accountable for actions that place civilians at risk of serious harm and contradict the objectives of international law, many innocent civilians will be deprived of the rights and protections guaranteed by treaties such as the Geneva Conventions.
Specifically, HRW wrote to the Iranian government on March 25 regarding the use of cluster munitions, but received no response at the time of writing.
