Saudi-led coalition keeps using cluster bombs on Yemen: Amnesty

[rangerrebew]

Saudi-led coalition keeps using cluster bombs on Yemen: Amnesty
Thu Mar 9, 2017 7:18AM

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The photo released by Amnesty International shows UK-manufactured cluster bomblets gathered in northern Yemen.
The photo released by Amnesty International shows UK-manufactured cluster bomblets gathered in northern Yemen.

Amnesty International has slammed the Saudi regime and its allies for dropping cluster bombs on residential areas in Yemen despite the global outcry against the use of such internationally-banned weapons by the Riyadh-led coalition.

In a Thursday statement, the UK-based rights group said the Brazilian-manufactured munitions were used by the Saudi-led coalition in a February 15 attack on three residential districts and agricultural land in the northern province of Sa’ada, wounding two people.

The report also said that the coalition fired cluster munitions in October 2015 and May 2016.

http://www.presstv.com/Detail/2017/03/09/513602/Yemen-cluster-bomb-Saudi-Amnesty-International

[thackney]

Cluster munitions pose an immediate threat to civilians during conflict by randomly scattering submunitions or bomblets over a wide area. They continue to pose a threat post-conflict by leaving remnants, including submunitions that fail to explode upon impact becoming de facto landmines. The 2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions prohibits the use, production, transfer, and stockpiling of cluster munitions. It also requires destruction of stockpiles, clearance of areas contaminated by remnants, and victim assistance. More than 115 states have joined the Convention on Cluster Munitions and are working to implement its provisions. Human Rights Watch is a founding member of the Cluster Munition Coalition and contributes to its annual Cluster Munition Monitor report.

https://www.hrw.org/topic/arms/cluster-munitions

[thackney]

Defence Secretary Michael Fallon said Saudi Arabia had confirmed munitions bought from the UK in the 1980s had been dropped.

Since 2010 it has been illegal under British law to supply the bombs, which put civilians at risk by releasing small bomblets over a wide area.

Labour said it was "deeply worrying" cluster bomb use had been confirmed.

The UK is supporting the Saudi-led coalition which is fighting the Houthi rebel movement in Yemen.

In a statement to MPs, Mr Fallon said the UK had not supplied any cluster bombs to Saudi Arabia since 1989.

But he added that Saudi investigations had concluded that some UK-made cluster bombs had been dropped.
The BL-755 bombs will no longer be used by the coalition, he added.



http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-38364694