Human Rights Watch urges US Congress to block transfer of Turkish cluster munitions to Ukraine
The Facts
- Human Rights Watch on 11 August urged the US Congress to block Türkiye's proposed transfer of cluster munitions to Ukraine.
- Türkiye asked Washington for permission to retransfer munitions held in its stockpiles for decades.
- The package is valued at about $256 million and includes 12 M270 rocket launchers.
- It covers 70 M39 ATACMS missiles, 2,524 M26 rockets and 47,000 M509A1 203mm artillery projectiles.
- The weapons contain more than 10 million explosive submunitions, according to HRW.
- The artillery projectiles were removed from US service in 1994 when the howitzers firing them were retired.
- HRW says unexploded submunitions would remain dangerous to civilians after hostilities end.
- The State Department says Ukraine needs the systems to strengthen its fire support against Russia.
- The State Department notified Congress that it was prepared to authorize the transfer.
Context
What did HRW actually say about the risk?
Deputy Washington director Nicole Widdersheim said "Dumping obsolete cluster munitions into a conflict creates a humanitarian liability for civilians that is tragically foreseeable" Human Rights Watch,KyivPost,Izvestia.ru. HRW says parts of the stockpile are more than 30 years old and that the munitions scatter large numbers of submunitions, some of which fail to detonate on impact OBOZREVATEL,OBOZREVATEL,Gazeta.ua.
Are cluster munitions banned, and does the ban apply here?
HRW says 112 states have prohibited these weapons because of their inaccuracy and unreliability Gazeta.ua,Gazeta.ua. Neither Ukraine, Russia nor the United States is a party to the Convention on Cluster Munitions Московский ….
Has Ukraine received cluster munitions before?
The Biden administration approved transfers of US cluster munitions to Ukraine in 2023 and 2024 Московский …,Life.ru. HRW has previously documented Russian use of cluster munitions in Ukraine, including hundreds of attacks reported across ten regions in 2023 Life.ru,Московский ….
What happens next?
The transfer requires US authorization, and HRW is asking Congress to block Türkiye's request; the congressional decision has not been reported as final Human Rights Watch,KyivPost,Московский ….
Where Left and Right agree, and where they split
- Where Left and Right agree
- Congress, not Türkiye or the State Department, owns this decision and should be accountable for the vote — and the decades-old stockpile is what it is, on both readings.
- Where Left and Right split
- Whether the story is about 10 million submunitions left in fields after the fighting stops, or about an ally supplying $256 million in fire support the US need not produce.
How left and right read it
A weapon that keeps killing after the shooting stops belongs in no arsenal, and that is precisely the hazard Human Rights Watch names in asking Congress to block this retransfer. More than 10 million submunitions, some fired from projectiles the US itself removed from service in 1994, means the dud rate falls on farmers and children long after the front lines move. The burden outlasts the war. Congress owns that choice now.
Allied burden-sharing is the whole point of a defense partnership, and here it means an ally offering 12 M270 launchers, 70 ATACMS missiles and 47,000 artillery projectiles out of stockpiles it has held for decades — roughly $256 million that need not be drawn from American production. Türkiye asked permission rather than acting alone. So Congress should decide this on the reciprocity offered and the fire-support need the State Department has stated, and own the vote.
The receipts — all 45 sources
Independent coverage (45)
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