The United Kingdom and Canada demonstrated against the use of cluster bombs on Saturday after the United States announced it would send such munitions to Ukraine invaded by Russia.
According to Europa Press, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said his country “discourages” the use of cluster bombs after Friday’s announcement that the United States of America (US) will supply this type of munitions to Ukraine.
Recalling that the UK is one of the 123 signatories to the 2008 Cluster Munitions Convention, which bans the use of cluster bombs, Rishi Sunak noted that London is supplying tanks and long-range weapons to Kiev to fight the Russian invasion.
“We will continue to do our part to support Ukraine against the unprovoked and illegal invasion of Russia, but by providing heavy battle tanks and, more recently, long-range weapons,” Sunak said, according to the Sky News television channel.
The British Prime Minister has scheduled a meeting in London with the President of the United States, Joe Biden, for Monday.
The government of Canada condemned the use of cluster bombs in the war in Ukraine, in a statement explaining the country’s efforts to ban the use of other indiscriminate munitions, such as anti-personnel mines, as enshrined in the Ottawa Treaty. expressly reject the US President’s decision.
In a statement quoted by Europa Press, the Canadian government reiterated that it will “fully comply with the convention” on cluster bombs and continue its efforts to achieve universal acceptance.
The treaty was signed in 2008 but has not been ratified by the United States, Russia and Ukraine.
According to the Cluster Bomb Coalition, which unites dozens of non-governmental organizations, by 2021 97 percent of the victims of such munitions will be civilians, two-thirds of whom will be children.
Before the American announcement, this group had already denounced the use of this type of weapon in the context of the war in Ukraine, mainly by Russian, but also Ukrainian.
Source: DN
