Flooding South Lebanon - Human Rights Watch

matter of command responsibility when they knew or should have known about the
commission of war crimes and took insufficient measures to prevent them or punish
those responsible. 46
International Humanitarian Law Applied to Cluster Munitions
Cluster munitions raise serious concerns under the above provisions. Cluster
munition strikes in or near population centers are likely to be indiscriminate because
the weapons cannot be precisely targeted. Cluster munitions are area weapons,
useful in part for attacking dispersed or moving targets. Most cannot, however, be
directed at specific fighters or weapons, a limitation that is particularly troublesome
in populated areas, even if there is a specific legitimate military target within the
area. When cluster munitions are fired into civilian areas, civilian casualties and
damage to civilian infrastructure are difficult to avoid.
Whether a cluster strike is discriminate must be judged not only on its immediate
impact but also its later effects. Cluster duds do not distinguish between combatants
and civilians and will likely injure or kill whoever disturbs them. The effects become
more dangerous if the submunitions litter an area frequented by civilians or the dud
rate is high (due to poor design, age, use in inappropriate environments, or delivery
from inappropriate altitudes or distances). The large number of submunitions
released by cluster munitions combined with a high dud rate makes the aftereffects
in civilian areas particularly deadly. In that situation, the unexploded duds take on a
character similar to antipersonnel landmines, which have been banned under
international law. 47
The lawfulness of an attack may also be determined by its disproportionate effect on
civilians. A cluster attack will be unlawfully disproportionate if expected civilian
harm outweighs anticipated military advantage.
46 Ibid., pp. 558-563.
47 Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on Their
Destruction, adopted September 18, 1997, entered into force, March 1, 1999. As of December 2007, there were 156 states
parties. Israel is not party.
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