From Afghanistan to the occupied Palestinian territory, Libya to Iraq, Yemen to Sudan, Syria to Ukraine and elsewhere, the use of explosive weapons in populated areas is a major cause of civilian deaths, injuries and displacement. In 2014, when explosive weapons were used in populated areas, 92 per cent of the casualties were civilians. The use of explosive weapons in populated areas also has a severe long-term humanitarian impact: it destroys housing and the infrastructure on which civilians depend, such as hospitals, clinics, and water and sanitation systems. In addition, explosive weapons leave explosive remnants of war, which can kill and injure civilians for decades after hostilities have ended.
Explosive weapons create a blast-and-fragmentation zone that can kill, injure or damage anyone or anything within that zone. In other words, within their blast-and-fragmentation zone, these weapons have indiscriminate effects. This makes their use in populated areas—such as towns, cities, markets and refugee camps— devastating for civilians. These problems increase if the weapons’ effects extend across a wide area. Since the blast-and-fragmentation zone is based on the technical specification of the explosive weapon in question, its likely impact on civilians is foreseeable.