Cluster munitions cause over 1,000 casualties globally in 2025

A report has found that cluster munitions have killed or injured at least 1,063 people globally in 2025, marking one of the highest annual tolls on record. The Cluster Munition Coalition’s annual report, released on Tuesday, indicates that most casualties were civilians, including at least 34 children, with deaths and injuries reported in Afghanistan, Cambodia, Iraq, Laos, Lebanon, Myanmar, Russia, Syria, and Ukraine. Ukraine recorded the highest number of casualties for the fourth consecutive year, accounting for 87 percent of the global total. The report notes that the actual number of casualties is likely higher, as many go unreported. The highest toll recorded was in 2022, with 1,172 casualties following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Cluster munitions are designed to disperse small explosives indiscriminately, posing significant risks to civilian populations, with unexploded ordnance remaining a danger long after deployment. The Convention on Cluster Munitions, which prohibits the use, production, and collection of these weapons, took effect in 2010 and has 112 states parties and 12 signatories. Lithuania is the only country to have withdrawn from the convention, doing so in March. The report indicates that cluster munitions were used by Iran, Myanmar, Russia, Thailand, Ukraine, and Mali, which is a party to the convention. There were also unverified reports of use by Israel and the US in Iran, by Pakistan in Afghanistan, by Houthi forces in Israel, and by Israel in Lebanon. Evidence of new production was found in China, India, Israel, Myanmar, North Korea, Poland, Romania, Russia, and South Korea, with indications that the US plans to produce cluster munitions in the future. The US and Russia voted against an annual resolution promoting the convention in the United Nations General Assembly in December, marking the first time they opposed it since its introduction. The report also stated that cuts in US foreign assistance last year disrupted the clearance of cluster munition remnants, resulting in at least 117 deaths and injuries in 2025.