Cluster Munitions Index

Cluster Munitions

China, Russia and the United States, the largest producers of cluster munitions, currently oppose the ban. However, several countries that manufacture cluster bombs are participating in the process including Argentina, Canada, Chile, Italy and Spain.

Efforts are also underway in the United States to limit the use of cluster munitions. New congressional legislation has been introduced in both the Senate and the House of Representatives.

Cluster munitions severely disrupt the lives and livelihoods of 400 million people worldwide.

• 98 percent of cluster bomb casualties are civilians*
• Bomblets are small, the size of a D battery or a tennis ball, and often explode when children mistake them for toys
• Each cluster bomb scatters hundreds to thousands of “bomblets” or submuntions
• Bomblets are inaccurate and have a high failure rate
• Scattered over wide areas, unexploded bomblets become de facto landmines
• Cluster munitions kill and maim people in 25 countries

Schoolyards and farmland are littered with unexploded ordinances (UXOs). Contaminated land impedes economic development, restricts access to water and deprives children of safe access to education. This widens the poverty gap and further represses the poorest communities and individuals.

Victims need medical attention, prosthetics and other assistance.

Contaminated land needs to be cleared and used to sustain families.

Communities need to be restored.

Help us save lives, spread hope and clear a path to a safer world!

Adopt-A-Minefield^® has been clearing minefields of all forms of UXOs since 1999, conducting survivor assistance activities since 2002 and is currently expanding its mine risk education campaigns. Supported by individuals and communities around the world, AAM is one of the world’s leading clearance programs.

* According to a recent study conducted by Handicap International. For the full 93-page report in PDF form Click Here >>>