UK Arms Export Controls Committees to Examine Alleged Cluster Bombs Use

The United Kingdom Parliament’s Committees on Arms Export Controls will examine any evidence of cluster munitions use, a spokesman for the committees told Sputnik on Monday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – Earlier in the day, Amnesty International said it had found the unexploded UK-made cluster munition in a village in northern Yemen. Those munitions are designed to be used by Tornado jets, used by Saudi-led coalition forces in its anti-Houthi Yemen campaign.

"The committee will certainly examine any evidence of use of cluster bombs as part of their inquiry, but it is too early to comment on individual cases or Britain’s regulatory framework at this stage," he said.

In March, the Committees said they would carry an investigation into the use of UK weaponry in Yemen, including on government compliance with its own criteria on allowing arms export licenses to the sides involved in the conflict.

Cluster munitions are explosive weapons that contain and release large numbers of smaller sub-munitions over a wide area. The use of cluster bombs is prohibited by the 2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions, which has been signed by 108 countries and ratified or acceded by 100.

A Saudi Arabia-led coalition has conducted a military operation in Yemen against Houthi forces since March, 2015. Since the coalition launched its air campaign, several rights groups have documented use of banned cluster munition in several airstrikes, claiming that they were used in Yemen’s civilian-populated areas, wounding and killing civilians.