Kristina Đurić, Norwegian People’s Aid “If international law is to mean anything, equal matters must be treated equally,” stressed the Norwegian Deputy Foreign Minister Kravik not so long ago. This means that all weapons that cause excessive and indiscriminate harm should be treated equally, and that one cannot pick and choose which ones are convenient to eliminate and which ones are convenient to keep. When it comes to international humanitarian law and humanitarian disarmament the only relevant criteria must be unacceptable harm. A recent roundtable discussion on incendiary weapons, includin ..read more

Sadie Statman, Armed Conflict and Civilian Protection Initiative Over the past two months, the urgency of strengthening civilian protection measures has gained renewed attention. At a widely attended conference in Vienna, states showed strong support for a new legally binding instrument on autonomous weapons systems, given the range of threats these systems pose. In his annual protection of civilians report, the UN secretary-general highlighted the unacceptable civilian harm caused by a variety of problematic weapons. He argued these humanitarian consequences warrant new laws and standards and ..read more

Paul Hannon, former executive director, Mines Action Canada, and former vice chair, ICBL-CMC In October 1992 six organizations—Handicap International (now known as Humanity & Inclusion), Human Rights Watch, Medico International, Mines Advisory Group, Physicians for Human Rights, and the Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation—agreed to form a global campaign to address the crisis caused by antipersonnel landmines. Their decision to establish the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL) did not make headlines. Nor did the fact that Jody Williams would be the founding coo ..read more

Hina Uddin, Harvard Law School International Human Rights Clinic  Immediately upon the Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Mariupol became a focal point of the war as Russia’s grip tightened around the coastal city. About 540,000 people resided in Mariupol before the Russian armed forces attacked, but as the bombardment continued, the number of residents dwindled, due to death and displacement. On May 20, 2022, after a battle of three months, the city fell, and Russia claimed control.  Yet, within this shattered landscape, amidst the ruins, a defiant spirit flickered—a resolve to ..read more

Anna Kate Manchester, Armed Conflict and Civilian Protection Initiative Over the past two months, armed conflicts, fueled by new arms transfers, continued to cause civilian casualties and other humanitarian consequences. Nevertheless, within the United Nations, there were multiple expressions of support for decreasing the impacts of conduct. In addition, civil society documented the human and environmental effects of war and states convened global meetings, both measures that helped promote humanitarian disarmament instruments. Activists support UN human rights experts’ February 2024 warning t ..read more

Sera Koulabdara, Legacies of War, and Mary Wareham, Human Rights Watch The decision announced March 12 by the United States government to transfer additional cluster munitions to Ukraine runs contrary to the norms of the international treaty prohibiting these weapons. The decision came against a broader backdrop of delays by the US Congress in approving military assistance to Ukraine, Ukraine’s shortage of artillery projectiles, and escalating attacks by Russian forces across Ukraine. Unexploded DPICM submunition found by Human Rights Watch researchers in a field north of Baghdad, Iraq, in May ..read more

Alicia Sanders-Zakre, International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons On March 1, 1954, the United States detonated on Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands a thermonuclear weapon 1,000 times more powerful than the bomb that destroyed Hiroshima. Seventy years later, this largest ever US nuclear explosion, alongside the 66 other bombs the US tested across the Marshall Islands, has had enduring consequences. International support for a new UN effort to provide assistance to nuclear survivors and to clean up radioactive contamination is urgent and necessary to begin to address this injustice. Be ..read more

Jacqulyn Kantack, Armed Conflict and Civilian Protection Initiative Following a busy season of disarmament meetings at the end of 2023, the beginning of 2024 has been relatively quiet on the diplomatic front. Nevertheless, as ongoing armed conflicts, including in Gaza and Ukraine, inflict significant civilian casualties, proponents of humanitarian disarmament have sought to advance civilian protection through universalizing treaties, implementing instruments, and documenting harm. The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons has a new state party, and states met in Austria and Togo to disc ..read more

Laura Boillot, Article 36 and International Network on Explosive Weapons (INEW) This blog originally appeared as part of the Forum on the Arms Trade website’s Looking Ahead 2024 series. Psychological support activities in UNRWA collective shelters in West Khan Younis, the Gaza Strip, in October 2023. Credit: Humanity & Inclusion, 2023. “The biggest challenge in this war is dealing with my children’s fear during the constant bombings. Evacuation is tough, moving from one place to another with my two children with disabilities, trying to appear strong despite my own fears. Sadly, nowhere is ..read more

Hina Uddin, Armed Conflict and Civilian Protection Initiative  The past two months were marked by a flurry of disarmament meetings. States wrapped up their annual session of the UN General Assembly’s First Committee on Disarmament and International Security in New York. Meetings of states parties also took place for the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW), Mine Ban Treaty, and the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW). While process dominated progress at the CCW gathering, elsewhere states took important steps on the road to a treaty on autonomous weapons systems and ad ..read more