Explosive Weapons in Populated Areas
Camilla Molyneux | International Network on Explosive Weapons
Originally published as part of the First Committee Monitor from Reaching Critical Will.
As work at the First Committee began, explosive weapons continued to be used frequently in populated areas around the world. From Gaza to Lebanon, Sudan, Syria, Myanmar, Ukraine, and other states, people are experiencing their devastating effects. As in previous years, this was emphasised in the UN Secretary-General’s annual report on the protection of civilians in armed conflict (2023), which found that “the impact on civilians was particularly acute when fighting took place in populated areas and involved the use of explosive weapons.”
The use of explosive weapons in populated areas is a leading cause of harm to civilians in armed conflict. The bombing and shelling of towns and cities kills and injures tens of thousands of civilians each year. For more than a decade, civil society and international organisations have documented the patterns of harm from the use of explosive weapons, in which civilians overwhelmingly bear the brunt of their use in populated areas. When explosive weapons are used in populated areas, 90 per cent of the victims are civilians. Such use also destroys critical civilian infrastructure such as hospitals, schools, and power and water systems, which impacts the provision of essential services and leads to long-term civilian suffering.
The UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, the Nordic countries, Ireland, Liechtenstein, Switzerland, and others made references this week to the humanitarian impacts of explosive weapons in populated areas, urging all states to cease their use and calling on all states to abide by international humanitarian law.
The Political Declaration on Strengthening the Protection of Civilians from the Humanitarian Consequences Arising from the Use of Explosive Weapons in Populated Areas was adopted in June 2022 and opened for endorsements on 18 November 2022. It is the first formal international recognition that the use of explosive weapons in populated areas has severe humanitarian consequences that must be urgently addressed and has so far been endorsed by 87 states.
The political declaration commits states to avoid civilian harm by restricting or refraining from the use of explosive weapons in populated areas and to assist victims and address the long-term impacts that stem from damage and destruction to civilian infrastructure. States that sign the political declaration are committing to work together, along with the UN, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), and civil society to strengthen the protection of civilians from explosive weapons. Bulgaria, Ireland, Liechtenstein, Switzerland, and the Nordic countries all emphasised the importance of the adoption of the Political Declaration, with the latter describing the full implementation of the Political Declaration as a way to improve compliance with international humanitarian law.
The UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, Ms. Izumi Nakamitsu, also urged states to endorse the Political Declaration. She identified the use of explosive weapons in populated areas as one of the biggest threats to civilians in armed conflict. Underlining the observed pattern of civilian harm and likelihood of indiscriminate effects caused by explosive weapons, she described their use as “unconscionable” and referred to conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East as examples herein.
The war and the widespread civilian harm in Gaza was also emphasised by the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf (GCC), the Group of Arab States, the Non-Aligned Movement, the Nordic countries, Brazil, Egypt, Indonesia, Ireland, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Liechtenstein, Mauritania, Palestine, Peru, South Africa, Sweden, and Yemen, among others. The use of explosive weapons, including airstrikes, by Israel’s military has been widely reported and will have caused a significant proportion of this harm. Ireland called out Israel’s response to the 7 October attacks as disproportionate and described the death and destruction in Gaza as “horrific and unacceptable”. It similarly condemned airstrikes on populated areas in Lebanon that it said caused indiscriminate death and destruction, and is contrary to international humanitarian law. The Nordic countries also highlighted the immense suffering among civilians caused by the war in Gaza, whilst the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf (GCC), the Group of Arab States, and Libya condemned the destruction of civilian infrastructure. Lebanon also described the impacts of Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon.
In the coming weeks of First Committee discussions, INEW encourages states to call for action to address the severe harm to individuals and communities from the use of explosive weapons in populated areas, to announce their intention to endorse the Political Declaration or to encourage endorsement by others, and to take active steps on the national level to implement the Political Declaration’s commitments.