Incendiary Weapons

In the past 15 years incendiary weapons were used in Afghanistan, Gaza, Iraq, Somalia, Syria, Ukraine and Yemen.

Currently, international law prohibits the use of air-delivered incendiary weapons in 'concentrations of civilians', but is not as strong for ground-launched weapons. At the same time, many states believe the rules do not apply to munitions that were not 'primarily designed' as incendiary weapons but have the same effect nonetheless.

PAX position

PAX calls on states to:

• Acknowledge the humanitarian harm caused by incendiary weapons
• Condemn the use of any type of incendiary weapon by any actor, and
• Calls on states to use the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (Protocol III) to strengthen existing rules on incendiary weapons.

Further reading

• Human Rights Watch Myths and realities about incendiary weapons
• PAX general statement to the Meeting of High Contracting Parties to the CCW November 2018
• CCW Protocol III (Protocol on Prohibitions or restrictions on the use of incendiary weapons)
• Human Rights Watch: They Burn Through Everything - The Human Cost of Incendiary Weapons and the Limits of International Law

Contact

Roos Boer, boer(javascript needed for readable email)paxforpeace.nl
Program leader humanitarian disarmament

Humanitarian Disarmament