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Articles by Mary Wareham
Russia’s Drone-Dropped Landmines Threaten Human Lives
Russian forces have used more than a dozen types of antipersonnel mines since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022, causing thousands of civilian casualties and contaminating vast tracts of agricultural land. The antipersonnel mines have been emplaced by hand, delivered by rockets, and—as a report from my colleagues at Human Rights Watch has documented—dropped from drones.
Lithuania Leaving Cluster Munition Ban Undermines Agreement
It is extremely rare for countries to walk away from longstanding commitments under International Humanitarian Law (IHL), but Lithuania has become the first State Party to vote to leave the 2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions. In doing so Lithuania is staining its otherwise excellent reputation on these weapons and on disarmament more generally.
Streumunition: Verstößt Deutschland gegen seine eigenen Verträge?
Deutschland gibt sich als Gegner von Streumunition. Doch im Ukraine-Krieg ist plötzlich alles anders. Was steckt dahinter? Ein Gastbeitrag. Die Bundesrepublik hat sich öffentlich gegen die Lieferung von verbotener Streumunition ausgesprochen. Neue Beweise deuten jedoch darauf hin, dass solche Lieferungen möglicherweise über Deutschland erfolgen. Dies widerspräche Deutschlands langjähriger Unterstützung des Übereinkommens über Streumunition von 2008, das diese Waffen verbietet.
Streumunition: Verstößt Deutschland gegen seine eigenen Prinzipien?
Deutschland gibt sich als Gegner von Streumunition. Doch im Ukraine-Krieg ist plötzlich alles anders. Was steckt dahinter? Ein Gastbeitrag. Die Bundesrepublik hat sich öffentlich gegen die Lieferung von verbotener Streumunition ausgesprochen. Neue Beweise deuten jedoch darauf hin, dass solche Lieferungen möglicherweise über Deutschland erfolgen. Dies widerspräche Deutschlands langjähriger Unterstützung des Übereinkommens über Streumunition von 2008, das diese Waffen verbietet.
Streumunition: Verstößt Deutschland gegen seine eigenen Prinzipien?
Deutschland gibt sich als Gegner von Streumunition. Doch im Ukraine-Krieg ist plötzlich alles anders. Was steckt dahinter? Ein Gastbeitrag. Die Bundesrepublik hat sich öffentlich gegen die Lieferung von verbotener Streumunition ausgesprochen. Neue Beweise deuten jedoch darauf hin, dass solche Lieferungen möglicherweise über Deutschland erfolgen. Dies widerspräche Deutschlands langjähriger Unterstützung des Übereinkommens über Streumunition von 2008, das diese Waffen verbietet.
US Ships Cluster Munitions to Ukraine via Germany Despite Ban
Germany has publicly opposed the transfer of banned cluster munitions, but new evidence indicates it may be facilitating it. That stand is at odds with its longstanding support for the 2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions banning these weapons. Cluster munitions are delivered from aircraft or fired in rockets, missiles, and artillery projectiles.
Report: US sending cluster munitions to Ukraine via Germany
Germany has publicly opposed the transfer of banned cluster munitions, but new evidence indicates it may be facilitating it. That stand is at odds with its longstanding support for the 2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions banning these weapons. Cluster munitions are delivered from aircraft or fired in rockets, missiles, and artillery projectiles.
Latin America and Caribbean Nations Rally Against Autonomous Weapons Systems
The push to prohibit and regulate autonomous weapons systems made significant progress last month when nearly every country in Latin America and the Caribbean endorsed a new communiqué calling for the “urgent negotiation” of a binding international treaty. In recent years, various groups of countries have promoted this objective, including the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), which comprises of 125 States.
Opinion | The US Must Ban Cluster Munitions
With the horror of these weapons is on full display in the Russia-Ukraine war, the U.S. needs to sign the global ban. The couple were in their yard cooking a meal. Then the submunitions hit. The wife died instantly. The husband lost both legs and died that day during surgery. The Russian attack was just one of dozens to hit Derhachi, a town in the Kharkiv region of Ukraine, in May and June. The cluster munitions struck homes and gardens, streets and parks, hospitals and a cultural center.
Radio Free - Independent Media for People, Not Profits.
The couple were in their yard cooking a meal. Then the submunitions hit. The wife died instantly. The husband lost both legs and died that day during surgery. The Russian attack was just one of dozens to hit Derhachi, a town in the Kharkiv region of Ukraine, in May and June. The cluster munitions struck homes and gardens, streets and parks, hospitals and a cultural center.
It’s Time for the U.S. to Ban Cluster Munitions
— from Foreign Policy In Focus The couple were in their yard cooking a meal. Then the submunitions hit. The wife died instantly. The husband lost both legs and died that day during surgery. The Russian attack was just one of dozens to hit Derhachi, a town in the Kharkiv region of Ukraine, in May and June. The cluster munitions struck homes and gardens, streets and parks, hospitals and a cultural center. Ukraine is the only country in the world where cluster munitions are currently being used.
It's Time for the U.S. to Ban Cluster Munitions
The couple were in their yard cooking a meal. Then the submunitions hit. The wife died instantly. The husband lost both legs and died that day during surgery. The Russian attack was just one of dozens to hit Derhachi, a town in the Kharkiv region of Ukraine, in May and June. The cluster munitions struck homes and gardens, streets and parks, hospitals and a cultural center. Ukraine is the only country in the world where cluster munitions are currently being used.
Intense and Lasting Harm
This report presents the types of cluster munitions being used in the international armed conflict in Ukraine in 2022 and the civilian casualties immediately suffered and civilian objects damaged. Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, Russian armed forces have used at least six types of cluster munitions in attacks that have caused hundreds of civilian casualties and damaged civilian objects, including homes, hospitals and schools.
Treaty Banning Cluster Munitions Turns 10, but Without the US
When the Convention on Cluster Munitions entered into force 10 years ago, on Aug. 1, 2010, it was seen as a major advance for protecting civilians both during and after armed conflict. The international treaty comprehensively bans cluster munitions and requires member countries to clear areas contaminated by cluster munition remnants within 10 years, destroy their cluster munition stocks within eight years, and provide assistance for victims. Cluster munitions are prohibited for two main reasons.
Digital Diplomacy Keeps Pressure on Killer Robots Challenge
Artists and activists participate in a Campaign to Stop Killer Robots event outside Germany’s parliament, February 2020. © 2020 Human Rights Watch This week, Germany convened the first-ever major digital disarmament meeting for governments and civil society. Representatives from more than 70 countries logged on to participate in the two-day meeting on lethal autonomous weapons systems, also known as fully autonomous weapons or killer robots.
Who Needs Landmines?
February 11, 2020 The Trump administration made big news recently — and it wasn’t about impeachment. On Jan. 31, the White House announced that it was cancelling the policy that prohibited using anti-personnel landmines outside the Korean peninsula. The subject has been a fraught issue since the early 1990s, when civil society began to respond to the tragic consequences — particularly in the developing world — of the proliferation of landmines.
US Should Think Again About Reversing Landmine Policy
The Trump administration announced Friday that the United States will re-start using and producing antipersonnel landmines. The decision rolls back a 2014 policy by the Obama administration to ban U.S. production of antipersonnel mines and their use outside of the Korean Peninsula. It reverses years of incremental U.S. steps to align with the “Ottawa” treaty banning antipersonnel landmines, which entered into force on March 1, 1999.
Robots That Kill
Close So, if I say the words killer robot, you might imagine something that sounds like this: Terminator: I am a friend of Sarah Conner. Where is she? I’ll be back. The Terminator, a walking, talking, fully autonomous machine designed to hunt and kill humans. Scary stuff. But, according to the experts, the killer robots we really need to worry about might sound something a bit more like this: [Buzzing sound]. No, not genetically modified killer bees. A swarm of tiny, lethal drones.
World Report 2020: Rights Trends in As Killer Robots Loom, Demands Grow to Keep Humans in Control of Use of Force
In 2020, you should be watching for… growing international rejection of “killer robots”—weapons that would kill without meaningful human control—and increasing calls for a new treaty to preemptively ban them. Allowing machines to select and target human prey without human intervention sounds like something out of an apocalyptic Sci-Fi movie.
Arms
China tries to explain away the decision to ban HRW's executive director from Hong Kong; HRW's World Report 2020 to launch from New York; arrests in Iran over downing of passenger jet; and a US citizen dies in an Egyptian prison.
As Killer Robots Loom, A Push to Keep Humans in Control of Use of Force
In the United States and around the world, public concern is rising at the prospect of weapons systems that would select and attack targets without human intervention. © 2018 Campaign to Stop Killer Robots In 2020, you should be watching for growing international rejection of “killer robots” – weapons that would kill without meaningful human control – and increasing calls for a new treaty to preemptively ban them.
Killer robots are not a fantasy. The world must reject and block these weapons.
Allowing machines to select and target humans sounds like something out of an apocalyptic sci-fi movie. But as we enter another decade, it is becoming increasingly obvious that we’re teetering on the edge of that dangerous threshold. Countries including China, Israel, South Korea, Russia and the United States are already developing and deploying precursors to fully autonomous weapons, such as armed drones that are piloted remotely.
Killer robots are not a fantasy. The world must reject and block these weapons.
OPINION Mary Wareham, Opinion contributor Published 3:00 a.m. CT Dec. 30, 2019 | Updated 1:21 p.m. CT Dec. 30, 2019 These autonomous weapons are not science fiction, they're an existential threat. Public pressure is the key to an international treaty to ban them. Allowing machines to select and target humans sounds like something out of an apocalyptic sci-fi movie. But as we enter another decade, it is becoming increasingly obvious that we’re teetering on the edge of that dangerous threshold.
Ringing the Alarm on Killer Robots
A Campaign to Stop Killer Robots publication on possible treaty elements. © 2019 Human Rights Watch Major military powers are racing to embrace weapons that select and fire on targets without meaningful human control. This is raising the specter of immoral, unaccountable, largely uncontrollable weapon systems – killer robots. It is also driving fears of widespread proliferation and arms races leading to global and regional instability.
Explosive Weapons in Civilian Areas
HRW head barred from Hong Kong; HRW's World Report to be launched in New York tomorrow; domestic violence prevails in Kazakhstan; Brazil's silent gestures to women; the threats of explosive weapons causing wide-area effects in populated areas; and hoping to see an end to child marriages by the UN’s 2030 deadline.
Mainstream media bias leaves citizens uninformed
Mary Wareham, Apple Valley Published 5:00 p.m. CT Jan. 2, 2019 Letters to the editor(Photo: Times graphic) I want to respond to the Times Writers Group column published Dec. 17 in the St. Cloud Times: "We must speak out." The majority — I would even say ALL articles — I read that find fault with our president concentrate on surface things ... his tweets and other rough behavior. They rarely, if ever, address anything on a deeper level or offer reasoned discourse.
Support Grows for Killer Robots Ban
Opposition to the creation of so-called “killer robots” – weapons systems that could select and attack targets without any human intervention – is growing. The issue has been hotly debated since 2013, when the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots began calling for a preemptive ban on the development, production, and use of such technology. The group has repeatedly warned that these weapons could have devastating consequences for civilian populations around the world.
Cluster Munitions: Full Compliance by Ban Treaty States
Treaty members are showing the holdouts that they have nothing to lose and everything to gain by renouncing cluster munitions and coming on board without delay. In the US, a November 30, 2017 Defense Department policy directive abandons a longstanding policy requiring the US not use cluster munitions that result in more than a 1 percent unexploded ordnance after 2018. Human Rights Watch has condemned the policy for halting a long-planned move away from inaccurate cluster munitions.
Want To Worry About AI? Then Worry About This ...
RobotRepublic — As the coordinator of the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots since its inception five years ago, I’ve been working to preemptively ban fully autonomous weapons.As you might imagine, so much has changed since 2013.
Want To Worry About AI? Then Worry About This…
Audience members pose questions on AI and modern conflict at a town hall meeting of the Munich Security Conference in February 2018. Mary Wareham, arms division advocacy director at Human Rights Watch (seated second from right) represented the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots on the panel, in her role as coordinator of the global coalition.
Incendiary Weapons Burn Again in Syria
Videos and photographs taken last weekend in the city of Saraqeb, in northwestern Syria, show the unmistakably bright trails produced by incendiary weapons. The ZAB incendiary submunitions used in the attacks are delivered by RBK-500 bombs and contain thermite, a flammable substance that ignites and burns intensely for up to 10 minutes. The attack occurred just a few kilometers from the scene of an apparent chemical weapons attack in Khan Sheikhoun on April 4.
The Growing International Movement Against Killer Robots - Harvard International Review
Six weapons have been internationally banned: poison gas, biological weapons, chemical weapons, blinding lasers, antipersonnel landmines, and cluster munitions. The bans on the latter three were all achieved in the past 21 years, and, in each case, civil society was the driving force in bringing the issue to the forefront and convincing governments to agree to a ban.
Cluster Munitions: Fewer Stockpiles, But New Use
There has been no evidence that the United States or its partners have used cluster munitions in their operation against the Islamic State (also known as ISIS) in Syria and Iraq that began in August 2014. A spokesperson for the US Air Force Central Command told a Washington Post reporter in July: “We have not employed cluster munitions in Operation Inherent Resolve.
Dispatches: France Destroys Its Cluster Munitions
France has completed the destruction of its stockpile of 34,856 cluster munition rockets and artillery projectiles that contained 14.9 million explosive submunitions, meeting a key obligation of the international ban treaty. It has also strongly condemned the use of these weapons and challenged all nations that haven’t yet banned them to do so.
Dispatches: Incendiary Weapons Pose Civilian Threat in Syria
Several major media outlets are reporting that Russia’s state-run television has broadcasted footage appearing to show Russian aircraft at its airbase in Syria equipped with “cluster bombs.” The clip was deleted from YouTube after analysts published the finding but was later restored. In fact, the footage shows incendiary weapons mounted on a Su-34 fighter-ground attack aircraft – specifically RBK-500 ZAB-2.5SM bombs – not cluster bombs.
On Cluster Munitions, a Tentative Step Toward Sanity
You can always tell a policy development is significant when it’s released late Friday afternoon – and before a holiday weekend to boot. The decision by the United States to “hold” further transfers of CBU-105 cluster munitions to Saudi Arabia is a perfect example. In this case it was even more obscure than usual since the information was leaked rather than announced by news release.
US Needs to Stop Tiptoeing Around the “Killer Robots” Threat
When it comes to banning “killer robots,” the United States is going to take some convincing.
UN: ‘Killer Robot’ Talks Go Forward, Slowly
The Convention on Conventional Weapons expert meeting on lethal autonomous weapons at the United Nations in Geneva, May 14, 2014. Mary Wareham, arms advocacy director at Human Rights Watch and coordinator of the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots. “By continuing the talks, countries are acknowledging the many concerns raised by autonomous warfare, but the technology is moving faster than the international response.
Dispatches: Death From Above - Incendiary Bombs in Syria
It is the end of the school day, teenage students gather in the playground before heading home. An aircraft buzzes overhead. A second later, chaos – at least 10 are dead and dozens wounded. Video images of the young victims – the dead, dying and severely wounded - show tell-tale signs of severe burns. That was the gruesome scene reported this week by the BBC of an apparent Syrian government airstrike in northern Syria in which an incendiary bomb was dropped on a school on August 26.
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