Ukraine crisis: Human Rights Watch says cluster bombs are used – death toll …
Evidence collected by New York-based Human Rights Watch suggests both government forces and pro-Russian separatists have used cluster munitions in eastern Ukraine, The Guardian reports.
A spokesmen for the Kyiv government’s military operation against the uprising in the east denied the accusations. The rebels were not immediately available to comment.
Cluster bombs explode in the air, scattering dozens of smaller bombs over an area the size of a sports field. Most countries have banned them under a convention that became international law in 2010, but Ukraine has not signed it.
Human Rights Watch said in a statement it had carried out a week-long investigation in eastern Ukraine, where more than 3,700 people have been killed in fighting since April, and documented widespread use of cluster munitions.
It said it could not conclusively determine responsibility for many of the attacks but “the evidence points to Ukrainian government forces’ responsibility for several cluster munition attacks” this month on Donetsk, the rebels’ main stronghold.
“It is shocking to see a weapon that most countries have banned used so extensively in eastern Ukraine,” said Mark Hiznay, senior arms researcher at Human Rights Watch. “Ukrainian authorities should make an immediate commitment not to use cluster munitions and join the treaty to ban them.”
In 12 incidents documented, cluster munitions killed at least six people and wounded dozens, but the toll could be higher, the watchdog said.
Source: The Guardian