View previous stories
	Weapons that affect civilians indiscriminately should be banned by Human Rights Watch, Guardian News   November 11, 2014   Ukraine, Syria: Incendiary Weapons Threaten Civilians - Stronger International Law Needed for Weapons that Burn.   (Geneva) – Evidence of the use of incendiary weapons in Ukraine and Syria highlights the need for stricter law to govern these weapons, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today with Harvard Law School’s International Human Rights Clinic.   The 16-page report, “Incendiary Weapons: Recent Use and Growing Opposition,” details incendiary weapon attacks in Ukraine and Syria and illustrates the increasing stigma against the weapons. Incendiary weapons can cause excruciatingly painful thermal and respiratory burns. Victims who survive often suffer long-term physical and psychological damage due to extensive scarring and disfigurement.   “Weapons that cause terrible burns and disfigure survivors have been used against towns in both Syria and Ukraine,” said Bonnie Docherty, senior Arms researcher at Human Rights Watch and lead author of the report. “The recent attacks with incendiary weapons show it’s past time for nations to reassess and strengthen international law on these cruel weapons,” said Docherty, who is also a lecturer in the Harvard clinic.   The report is being distributed at the annual meeting of countries that are party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW), which is being held at the United Nations in Geneva from November 10-14, 2014. Protocol III of the treaty bans certain use of incendiary weapons, but its loopholes and inconsistencies have not been addressed since the law was created more than 30 years ago.   Human Rights Watch documented attacks with incendiary Grad rockets on two towns in Ukraine, although the organization was unable to confirm the party responsible. In Syria in 2014, government forces have continued their use of incendiary weapons and have also dropped indiscriminate barrel bombs containing incendiary components.   All countries and especially CCW states parties should condemn such use of incendiary weapons and express support for revisiting and amending the protocol, Human Rights Watch and the Harvard clinic said.   Countries should seize this moment to strengthen Protocol III because there is growing recognition that incendiary weapons cause unacceptable harm, the organizations said. For example, Israel avoided use of white phosphorus munitions during its 2014 military operations in Gaza, apparently because of the international criticism generated by its use of these munitions in 2009 in Gaza. Over the past year, at least a dozen countries have expressed concern at the civilian casualties from the use of incendiary weapons.   The treaty’s incendiary weapons protocol should be amended to clearly cover munitions with white phosphorus because they cause the same kinds of effects as other incendiary munitions. White phosphorus munitions are not covered at present because they are primarily designed to be used as smokescreens or illuminants.   The protocol should also be amended to prohibit the use in populated areas of ground-launched as well as air-dropped incendiary weapons. An absolute ban on incendiary weapons would have the greatest humanitarian benefits, Human Rights Watch and the Harvard clinic said.   A total of 109 states are party to Protocol III of the 1980 Convention on Conventional Weapons. Parties include all five permanent members of the UN Security Council and Ukraine, but not Syria.   http://www.hrw.org/news/2014/11/10/ukraine-syria-incendiary-weapons-threaten-civilians   November 14, 2014   Countries warn of potential dangers of autonomous weapons systems they say are at risk of violating international and humanitarian law.   “Killer robots” – autonomous weapons systems that can identify and destroy targets in the absence of human control – should be strictly monitored to prevent violations of international or humanitarian law, nations from around the world demanded on Thursday.   The European Union, France, Spain, Austria, Ireland, the Netherlands, Croatia, Mexico and Sierra Leone, among other states, lined up at a special UN meeting in Geneva to warn of the potential dangers of this rapidly advancing technology.   Several countries spoke of the need for ongoing scrutiny to ensure that the weapons conformed to the Geneva conventions’ rules on proportionality in war.   The Spanish delegation went further, invoking the possibility of a new arms race as developed countries scrambled to get ahead. Ireland, the Netherlands and other countries called for “meaningful human control” of lethal weapons to be enshrined in international law, although the meeting also admitted that the precise definition of that principle had yet to be clarified.   The Geneva meeting was the second major gathering of world powers this year to discuss the looming threat or possibility of fully self-operating lethal weapons. As such, it was an indication of mounting global concern about the technology, as its adoption by military forces gathers apace.   The US, the leader in the field, has already switched most of its aerial surveillance capabilities to unmanned aircraft – though the drones are still controlled by human pilots. It is a natural next step for the US air force to develop systems that can both deliver and then operate missiles and bombs robotically, with only minimal human intervention.   The New York Times reported this week that Lockheed Martin has developed a long-range anti-ship missile for the US air force and navy that can fly itself, with no human touch, for hundreds of miles, changing its flight-path autonomously to avoid radar detection. Britain, Israel and Norway already carry out attacks on radar installations, tanks and ships using autonomous drones and missiles, the paper said.   At the previous Geneva meeting on killer robots, Christof Heyns, the UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, called for an outright ban. “Machines lack morality and mortality, and as a result should not have life and death powers over humans,” he said.   Human Rights Watch, which is a co-founder of the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots, told Thursday’s plenary that a ban was the only practical solution. The group lamented the fact that the UN had spent only eight or nine days over the past two years focused on an area that was fast-moving and raised huge legal and ethical issues.   “There is a sense of urgency about how we deal with killer robots. Technology is racing ahead,” it said.   Regulation of autonomous weapons falls under the so-called “convention on certain conventional weapons” or CCW – a part of the Geneva conventions that deals with the impact of the tools of war on civilian populations. Under CCW, weapons that are deemed to affect civilians indiscriminately or to cause inhumane suffering to combatants can be banned or heavily restricted.   http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/nov/13/killer-robots-strictly-monitored-un-meeting-geneva http://www.stopkillerrobots.org/ http://www.icrc.org/en/document/lethal-autonomous-weapons-systems-LAWS
	Forgotten and Vulnerable: The Plight of Central African Republic"s Children by World Vision, agencies   10 Nov 2014   2.5 million people, most of whom are children, are affected by months of violence in the country according to the UN.   In one region alone, World Vision estimates 14,000 children suffer from malnutrition and 40% of children have dropped out of school.   Children are paying the price of violent conflict in the Central African Republic. They are being denied their most basic rights to food, education, health and security, a new report by aid agency World Vision finds.   In the Ombella M’Poko region, where the capital city Bangui is located, clashes over many months between armed groups has seen the wilful destruction of health centres and schools, and has caused severe food shortages, leading half of people living in rural areas to flee their villages.   “We’re witnessing a heartbreaking situation for children in the Central African Republic. When food runs out, adults go hungry, but children can die,” says Edwin Asante, response manager for World Vision in the Central African Republic.   This crisis is affecting the future of children – World Vision estimates that four out of ten are not able to attend school in some areas of Ombella M’Poko, as a result of the violence. “Many schools were destroyed, but this research has revealed that children have attempted to return to school only to find classrooms littered with explosives left behind by armed occupiers,” explained Mr Asante.   To make matters worse, children have been sucked into the spiral of violence. While some children have taken up arms to defend their villages, many others across the country have been recruited by armed groups to potentially serve as soldiers, cooks, porters, guards and even sex slaves.   World Vision recognizes the efforts of the European Union to play an indispensable role in protecting civilians, where peace-keeping forces are deployed. However, “the EU must encourage its member states to contribute to and increase peace keeping missions in order to secure the deployment of humanitarian aid workers from NGOs as well as the delivery of assistance, which provides hundreds of thousands of people with lifesaving relief”, declares Marius Wanders, Director of World Vision Brussels and EU Representation.   World Vision has been responding to the crisis, feeding children in schools that are still operating, working to improve hygiene and water access, while also engaging in peace building discussions with various faith groups. “While we work to respond to basic needs, we want to see the international community to increase pressure for an end to the violence, a sustainable and inclusive peace process, and to increase both immediate and long term funding, especially for the needs of children”, concludes Mr Asante. Visit the related web page
	View more stories