Dear Friend,
Today the Biden administration announced that they will be transferring cluster munitions to the Ukrainian government.
Take action to oppose these transfers.
Cluster munitions are among the most harmful weapons to civilians. They are designed to disperse small bomblets indiscriminately across a wide area. The bomblets often fail to explode on initial use, littering communities with unstable unexploded ordnance and causing devastating harm to civilians for years after a conflict ends.
Both the Russian and Ukrainian militaries have already used cluster munitions with devastating impact, as has been documented by Human Rights Watch and others. The United States must not be complicit in the use of these indiscriminate weapons.
When asked about the use of cluster munitions by the Russian military in February 2022, Press Secretary Psaki said that their use might constitute a war crime. Given this acknowledgement, it is shocking that the Biden administration is now sending these same munitions to the Ukrainian government.
Take action: Demand that Congress oppose the administration’s transfer of these weapons.
Congress has put in place a legal mandate that bans the U.S. from transferring cluster weapons to any other country if they have a dud rate over 1.3%. Officials from the Biden administration have stated that the cluster weapons to be transferred have a dud rate over 1.5%, and there is good reason to question that number. This transfer therefore is moving forward in direct violation of the congressional mandate limiting cluster munitions transfers.
Instead of sending these weapons to Ukraine, Congress should move to endorse the Convention on Cluster Munitions which has already been signed by 123 countries, including 23 NATO allies.
Urge your member of Congress to stand firm against cluster munitions – and join the convention to ban them.
Rather than furthering the spread of cluster munitions, the U.S. should work to ban their use in all situations. |
