Arms

Many urgent arms-related challenges need be addressed to protect civilians affected by conflict and its deadly legacy. Antipersonnel landmines and cluster munitions have been prohibited outright due to their inherently indiscriminate and lasting effect on civilians yet continued advocacy and monitoring is needed to ensure these treaties gain universal support and are fully implemented. The use of artillery projectiles, rockets, mortars, missiles, air-delivered bombs and other explosive weapons in populated areas is causing foreseeable harm to civilians and the infrastructure they depend on to live, study, and work. Incendiary weapons, including white phosphorus, inflict painful and cruel injuries, yet they continue to be used. The development of autonomous weapons systems—“killer robots”—that could select and engage targets without human intervention needs to be prohibited and regulated through new international law to prevent a future of warfare and policing outside of human control and responsibility. The Arms Program of the Crisis, Conflict and Arms Division advances humanitarian disarmament, enhancing protections for civilians from various weapons that inflict unacceptable harm, including by strengthening international treaties and legal norms.