The report by Action On Armed Violence (AOAV) lists 1,785 deaths and injuries as a result of 229 incidents of explosive violence worldwide. Among these figures, civilians accounted for 50% of the recorded deaths and injuries. The five countries with the highest number of civilian casualties, in order of the worst impacted country, were: Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen, Pakistan and Iraq.
Explosive weapons include arms that produce effects over a wide blast area or scattered fragments. Consequently, because of the indiscriminate harm these weapons cause to civilians, they should not be used in highly populated areas. According to the November AOAV report,among the main methods of explosive weapons, improvised explosive devices (IEDs) were responsible for about half of the civilian casualties. The remaining civilian casualties were caused by ground-launched explosives (36%), landmines (5%), air strikes (4%) and other unidentified methods of launch (2%).
The AOAV condemns the use of violence against civilians and the use of explosive weapons in populated areas. It therefore calls on all responsible actors to ban the use of explosive weapons with wide-ranging effects in places where high concentrations of civilians are likely to be found.
To know more, please read:
https://aoav.org.uk/2020/explosive-violence-in-november-2020/
https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/02/06/explosive-weapons-devastating-civilians
http://www.inew.org/political-response/
Author: Carla Pintor
