"Nations attending a milestone meeting of the international treaty banning cluster munitions have issued a declaration condemning their use by any party," Human Rights Watch said. "At the first five-year review conference of the treaty, Cuba said it will ban cluster munitions and join the treaty."
The attendees of the conference that included the United Kingdom, Australia and Canada, had adopted the declaration on September 9, according to the press release.
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 117 countries and ratified by 96.
The participants of the First Review Conference condemned the use of cluster bombs during the past year in Libya, Sudan, Syria, Ukraine, and Yemen. Those countries that have not yet become members of the convention banning cluster munitions.
In 2014 alone, some 450 people were killed by cluster bombs during airstrikes and shelling, according to the Landmine and Cluster Munition Monitor.
