The UK’s attempt to prevent states from condemning “any cluster munition use, by any actor” through the Dubrovnik Declaration continues a long-standing pattern of persistent but ultimately futile efforts to resist the overriding humanitarian imperative for civilian protection in the context of cluster munitions.

The history of UK diplomatic engagement on cluster munitions, reviewed in this new briefing paper, provides grounds to question the UK’s claim that their opposition to condemnation of use is motivated by concern to promote the universalization of the Convention on Cluster Munitions (CCM). Rather it should be seen as an attempt to avoid fully promoting the norms of the Convention and to avoid undertaking, collectively, the best effort to discourage the use of cluster munitions. Both of those are obligations under article 21 of the CCM.

The UK’s attempt to justify its refusal to condemn cluster munition use on the basis of article 21 is not founded in legal analysis but in political desperation. The UK’s objection to condemnation of use should be rejected by committed states parties.