As Gaza war ends...Time for a White Phosphorous and Cluster Munitions ban

 Time for global ban on white phosphorous and cluster munitions - the global community must urgently enforce a universal ban on white phosphorus and cluster munitions—two indiscriminate weapons whose use continues to devastate civilian populations and violate international humanitarian law.

Their use in Gaza is drawing to a close leaving much smaller use in Ukraine and Myanmar and briefly in the Thai-Cambodia War.

While air raids in general look increasingly a de facto war crime with mainly civilian deaths and increased drone use.

Cluster munitions, which disperse dozens or hundreds of submunitions over wide areas, have been used by both Russian and Ukrainian forces in 2024–2025, despite the Convention on Cluster Munitions prohibiting their use, production, and transfer. These weapons fail to distinguish between combatants and civilians, and unexploded bomblets remain lethal for years. In 2023 alone, civilians accounted for 93% of global casualties from cluster munitions, with children making up nearly half.

USA/NATO supply and stockpiles to Ukraine and Israel looks untenable now. Which general or pilot will be first to face The Hague for a pointless and pariah weapon?

And massive UN condemnation and sign up to a ban overrides the veto delay.

While EU-NATO pressure on Poland, Romania and Greece on Cluster Munitions plus Turkey and Ukraine is overdue.

And 3 USA states on WP production and stockpiles eg Pine Bluff Arkansas and at least 7 CM states eg Textron munitions in Rhode Island or McAlester Depot Oklahoma.

White phosphorus, while legal under certain conditions, has been deployed in ways that likely constitute war crimes. In Myanmar, anti-coup forces have accused the military of using white phosphorus in drone strikes, causing rapid-onset necrosis and fatal injuries inconsistent with conventional blast wounds. 

WP use in populated areas causes severe burns, respiratory damage, and long-term suffering—violating the principles of distinction and proportionality under the Geneva Conventions.

Designed as markers for artillery shelling, WP is being used as a napalm substitute.

Air raids deploying these weapons in civilian zones—schools, hospitals, residential areas—are not tactical operations. They are acts of terror. When used deliberately against non-combatants, they meet the threshold of war crimes under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.

While air raids in general and likely massive civilian deaths meet the 21C Dresden threshold of a war crime.

A global ban must be reinforced through:

  • Universal ratification of the Convention on Cluster Munitions

  • Legal accountability for violators, including state and military actors

  • Independent investigations and public documentation of attacks

  • Victim assistance, demining, and reparations

The continued use of these weapons now only in Ukraine and Myanmar, and briefly elsewhere is a stain on the conscience of the international system. Civilian deaths are not collateral—they are the predictable outcome of impunity. While $1.5BN in stockpiles and $150M in exports are fractional sums in the global arms industry eg Pentagon $900BN budget.

The time for symbolic condemnation is over. Enforcement, exposure, and justice must follow - just as Napalm is now beyond the pale.

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