SIPRI Yearbook 2012
I. Limiting conventional arms for humanitarian reasons: the case of cluster munitions
Several years of international negotiations on imposing greater controls on cluster bombs reached a climax in 2011 when states parties to the 1981 Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW) Convention convened to negotiate a draft protocol on cluster munitions in the convention’s Fourth Review Conference.1 The weapon category ‘cluster munitions’ lacks an internationally agreed legal definition, but in general terms a cluster munition can be defined as a canister that breaks apart prior to detonation, releasing multiple individual sub-munitions. These weapons can be delivered from aircraft or land- or sea-based systems against moving or fixed targets—including people, vehicles or infrastructure such as airfield runways. The individual sub-munitions may be difficult or impossible to target precisely, and a certain proportion may not detonate immediately. There is a risk that the use of these weapons will fail to discriminate between military targets and protected civilians and that unexploded ordnance will continue to pose a threat beyond the duration of the conflict in which they were used. For these reasons there have been efforts to restrict or entirely prohibit cluster munitions.
- Citation (MLA):
- Grip, Lina, Mark Bromley, Glenn Mcdonald, Pieter D. Wezeman, Noel Kelly, Hans-Joachim Schmidt, and Wolfgang Zellner. "10. Conventional arms control." SIPRI Yearbook. SIPRI. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2016. Web. 16 Jun. 2025. <https://www.sipriyearbook.org/view/9780199650583/sipri-9780199650583-div1-65.xml>.
- Citation (APA):
- Grip, L., Bromley, M., Mcdonald, G., Wezeman, P., Kelly, N., Schmidt, H., & Zellner, W. (2016). 10. Conventional arms control. In SIPRI, SIPRI Yearbook 2012: Armaments, Disarmament and International Security. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Retrieved 16 Jun. 2025, from https://www.sipriyearbook.org/view/9780199650583/sipri-9780199650583-div1-65.xml
- Citation (Chicago):
- Grip, Lina, Mark Bromley, Glenn Mcdonald, Pieter D. Wezeman, Noel Kelly, Hans-Joachim Schmidt, and Wolfgang Zellner. "10. Conventional arms control." In SIPRI Yearbook 2012: Armaments, Disarmament and International Security, SIPRI. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016). Retrieved 16 Jun. 2025, from https://www.sipriyearbook.org/view/9780199650583/sipri-9780199650583-div1-65.xml
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