Incendiary weapons produce heat and fire through the chemical reaction of a flammable substance. They cause terrible burn wounds and damage to civilians and civilian objects, often leading to long term harm and psychological trauma.
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 calls on states to:
Roos Boer, boer(javascript needed for readable email)paxforpeace.nl
Program leader humanitarian disarmament