Human Rights Watch urges US not to transfer outdated cluster munitions from Türkiye to Ukraine
The human rights organization Human Rights Watch (HRW) is calling on the US to reject Türkiye’s request to allow the retransfer to Ukraine of tens of thousands of cluster munitions that have been in Türkiye’s stockpiles for decades, according to a report published on the organization’s website on Wednesday.
Human Rights Watch has urged the United States to reject Turkey's request to retransfer tens of thousands of outdated cluster munitions to Ukraine. The report, published on Wednesday, warns that these munitions, many of which were produced in Turkey under US licenses since 1987, pose a significant humanitarian risk due to their inaccurate and unreliable nature.
These munitions, totaling over 100,000 individual submunitions, are known to often miss their targets, posing a threat to civilians. The US has not joined the international Convention on Cluster Munitions, which has banned these weapons, but an export moratorium has been in place since 2009. However, former President Biden exempted at least seven transfers to Ukraine between 2023 and 2024, despite not publicly disclosing the quantities.
HRW's deputy Washington director, Nicole Widdersheim, emphasized that these munitions should not be used and called on Congress to act. The State Department is reportedly prepared to authorize the transfer, citing Turkey's desire to reduce its inventory of older defense articles and reallocate funds to modernization efforts. However, Ukraine already possesses similar weapons and would not benefit from this transfer, which could potentially exacerbate civilian casualties in the ongoing conflict.
Written by urgent.news from Interfax-Ukraine's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
