KOSOVO HUMAN RIGHTS FLASH #36
NATO USE OF CLUSTER BOMBS MUST STOP

(New York, May 11, 1999) — Human Rights Watch today condemned
NATO's use of cluster bombs in the air campaign against the Federal
Republic of Yugoslavia. The submunitions inside cluster bombs have
a high failure rate and can leave unexploded ordnance across wide
areas, ready to detonate on contact.

"The duds that are left inside cluster bombs effectively turn into
landmines," said Joost Hiltermann, director of the Arms Division of
Human Rights Watch. "And like antipersonnel landmines, they kill
civilians even years after the conflict has ended. NATO should stop
using them immediately."

Because of the submunitions' appearance—the CBU-87 and RBL755
bomblets are bright orange/yellow soda-can sized objects, while the
ATACMS bomblets are bright baseball-sized spheres—children are
particularly drawn to the volatile live remnants.

A recent NATO airstrike on the airfield in Nis went off target, hitting a
hospital complex and adjoining civilian areas. On April 24, five
children playing with colorful unexploded submunitions were
reported killed, and two injured, near Doganovic in southern Kosovo.

In the short term, live submunitions pose a danger to civilians and
refugees, and impede their movement. In the long term, they inhibit
agriculture and economic recovery. The widespread use of cluster
bombs can also pose a severe hazard to friendly ground force
operations, including peacekeeping forces, as happened to
international forces in the 1991 Gulf War.

Cluster bombs have an estimated 5 percent mechanical and fuse
failure rate. For Operation Allied Force in the Federal Republic of
Yugoslavia, the historical record and testing experience would tend
to indicate that for every single CBU-87 used, there will be an
average of some ten unexploded bomblets, and for every RBL755,
there will be an average of five unexploded bomblets.

It is possible that, if the bombing campaign continues, the U.S. Air
Force may start using the CBU-89 Gator "scatterable" mine system,
which holds a mix of antitank and antipersonnel landmines. The use
of antipersonnel landmines, an inherently indiscriminate weapon, is
banned under the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty, which came into force in
March 1999. The United States has not signed the treaty, but all other
NATO members, except Turkey, have.

Human Rights Watch called on NATO to stop using cluster bombs and
refrain from using the CBU-89 Gator mine system.

"The U.S. may not have signed the landmines treaty, but it's still
obliged to carry out warfare according to international humanitarian
law," said Hiltermann.

For more information on cluster bombs, consult Human Rights
Watch's briefing paper on the subject, written by Human Rights
Watch consultant William Arkin.

For more information, please contact:
Joost Hiltermann (316) 2293-6742 (in the Netherlands)
Bill Arkin (201) 583-5151 (in New Jersey)
or (802) 457-3426 (home)
Carroll Bogert 212-216-1244 (in New York)

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This human rights flash is an occasional information bulletin from
Human Rights Watch. It will include human rights updates on the
situation in Yugoslavia generally and in Kosovo specifically. To
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