MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Cluster bombs killed a total of 417 people in 2015, with hundreds of casualties recorded in Syria and Yemen, a report by the Cluster Munition Coalition revealed Thursday.
"For calendar year 2015, the [Cluster Munition] Monitor recorded 417 cluster munition casualties. These cluster munition casualties were recorded in at least eight countries and two other areas: Afghanistan (four), Cambodia (two), Chad (four), Lebanon (13), Lao PDR (18), Syria (248), Ukraine (19), Yemen (104), as well as Nagorno-Karabakh (one), and Western Sahara (four)," the report reads.
The report also showed that children accounted for over a third of all civilian casualties. Women and girls are said to account for about one-fourth of civilian casualties.
"Civilians made up 97% of all cluster munition casualties in 2015 where the status was known (388 civilians, 14 security forces, and 15 without recorded status). In 2015, children accounted for 36% of all civilian cluster munition casualties, where the age group was reported (102 children among 286 civilian casualties of known age), and women and girls made up 23% of civilian casualties, where sex was recorded (41)," the report found.
The use of cluster bombs is prohibited by the 2008 Oslo Convention on Cluster Munitions, which has been signed by 108 countries and ratified or acceded to by 100. Syria and Yemen are among the states that are not party to the Oslo Convention.
