NEW YORK, July 31. /TASS/. The New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) has condemned the German leadership for storing US-made cluster munitions on German soil before supplying them to Ukraine.
"Germany has publicly opposed the transfer of banned cluster munitions, but new evidence indicates it may be facilitating it. That stand is at odds with its longstanding support for the 2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions banning these weapons," a statement on the organization’s website reads. The activists reiterate that Germany was among the first 30 countries to ratify this convention and urge the country’s leadership to remove the stocks of cluster munitions from its soil "without delay." "It should be clear in opposing any transit of cluster munitions across its territory, airspace, or waters," the HRW said.
On July 26, the German broadcaster NDR reported, citing a US military source, that the US stores cluster munitions in Germany and sends them to Ukraine from there. According to the news outlet, by allowing the US to do this, Germany could be violating the Convention on Cluster Munitions, which specifically prohibits the storage of such weapons in Germany, as well as their transportation.
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said in July 2023 that Berlin was determined to comply with the Convention on Cluster Munitions and would refrain from providing such weapons to Ukraine. US Presidential Advisor Jake Sullivan earlier announced Washington’s decision to provide Kiev with cluster munitions. The United Nations opposes the use of such weapons.
The Convention on Cluster Munitions was signed in 2008. By now, 124 countries have joined it.