Human Rights Watch urges U.S. Congress to block transfer of cluster munitions from Turkey to Ukraine

Human rights organization Human Rights Watch (HRW) on August 11 urged the U.S. Congress to block a planned transfer of cluster munitions from Turkey’s stockpiles to Ukraine, citing risks to civilians.

The U.S. State Department, by contrast, supports the deal, pointing to Ukraine’s need for enhanced fire support.

According to HRW, Turkey has requested U.S. authorization to transfer munitions that have been stored in its warehouses for decades. The deal, valued at approximately €221.7 million, involves the transfer of 12 M270 multiple launch rocket systems, 70 M39 ATACMS ballistic missiles, 2,524 M26 rockets, and 47,000 M509A1 artillery shells of 203 mm caliber. The organization noted that these munitions collectively contain more than 10 million submunitions.

HRW is pressing for the transfer to be blocked, noting that some of the munitions have been in storage for more than 30 years. The organization argues that due to the age and unreliability of the munitions, some submunitions may fail to detonate on impact and subsequently pose a danger to civilians.

“Transferring aging cluster munitions into a conflict zone creates a humanitarian threat to civilians that is tragically easy to foresee,” said Nicole Widdersheim, deputy Washington director of HRW.

In a letter to Congress dated August 6, a U.S. State Department representative stated that Ukraine “seeks to enhance its offensive and defensive fire support capabilities as it counters Russia’s invasion,” and that “Ukraine already possesses munitions of the same or essentially similar type.” The State Department also said the U.S. government is prepared to authorize the transfer, and that Turkey “seeks to reduce its stockpiles of aging defense articles in order to focus its financial resources on modernizing and sustaining existing systems.”

HRW emphasizes that cluster munitions disperse large numbers of submunitions over a given area, some of which may fail to explode on impact and remain dangerous after hostilities end. The Convention on Cluster Munitions prohibits the use, production, transfer, and stockpiling of such weapons, but Ukraine, Russia, and the United States are not parties to it.

The United States has had legislative restrictions on the export of cluster munitions in place since 2009. At the same time, the Joe Biden administration transferred such munitions to Ukraine at least seven times in 2023–2024 without disclosing the quantities. HRW notes that it is not publicly known whether the Donald Trump administration has made a separate determination that would allow those restrictions to be circumvented in the case of the Turkish stockpiles. The U.S. Congress can block the transfer by passing a joint resolution of disapproval.

Background

It was previously reported that Ukraine had acquired from Turkey 70 M39 ATACMS ballistic missiles, 12 M270 MLRS launchers, and tens of thousands of cluster munitions. Since the weapons are of American origin, their transfer to Ukraine must be separately approved by the United States through a re-export authorization process.

On July 7, 2023, the United States announced a military aid package for Ukraine valued at approximately €692.9 million, which for the first time included cluster munitions. The decision drew criticism from non-governmental organizations and concern from several European countries and Canada. U.S. President Joe Biden acknowledged that the decision had not been easy for him to make, but considered it the right one given the shortage of artillery shells. On July 20, 2023, an unnamed Ukrainian official told The Washington Post that Ukrainian armed forces had already begun using cluster munitions against Russian troops.