Defence Minister Arvydas Anušauskas continues to insist Lithuania should withdraw from the treaty banning cluster bombs, saying it limits its ability to defend against this type of weapon.
Lithuania is a signatory to the Convention on Cluster Munitions, but Anušauskas suggested last week Vilnius should leave, following controversy over the United States’ decision to supply the bombs to Ukraine.
“I would just like to point out that Lithuania is the only state bordering Russia that has signed this convention,” Anušauskas told reporters in Šalčininkai District on Friday. “As Russia uses cluster munitions, we cannot even train specialists to clear them, to deal with them, because we cannot even bring them in, have them, keep them and use them under this convention.”
Many human rights and arms control groups consider cluster munitions a violation of international law. They can contain hundreds of bomblets that, like a shotgun, splatter explosive shards across a wide area. That makes them effective at taking out a concentration of enemy forces, but also poses a particular threat to civilians.
Cluster bombs are imprecise, and what doesn’t detonate on impact can lie around for years, maiming or killing people, including children, who come across them. Some cluster bombs have a “dud rate” of up to 40 percent, meaning huge numbers of bomblets remain dangerous for years.
Anušauskas believes, however, that other international treaties provide sufficient protection of civilians.
“In this case, the Geneva Convention provides for the use of all types of armaments only against military targets, and cluster munitions are subject to exactly the same provisions, ie they cannot be used against civilians,” Anušauskas said.
The motion to withdraw from the Convention on Cluster Munitions has already been drawn up, he said, and will be coordinated with other institutions.
Anušauskas first raised the issue in a Facebook post last Sunday, saying “we should withdraw from this convention to acquire and use [cluster munitions]”.
Commenting on the proposal, presidential adviser Frederikas Jansonas said the “withdrawal would be very complicated, and it would raise a lot of questions in the international arena”.
The Convention, ratified by Lithuania in 2011, bans the use, production and acquisition of cluster munitions and lays down specific obligations to address the humanitarian consequences of these weapons.
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