OddsFrontCluster munitions killed or injured at least 1,063 people in 2025
A new global monitor records one of the highest annual casualty totals, with Ukraine accounting for most reported harm as treaty members prepare for a review conference in Laos.
A near-record human toll
Cluster munitions killed or injured at least 1,063 people during 2025, according to findings released ahead of the next international review of the treaty banning the weapons. The recorded total was among the highest in the monitor's series and was surpassed only by the 1,172 casualties documented in 2022, the year Russia expanded its invasion of Ukraine.
The monitor recorded new casualties in Afghanistan, Cambodia, Iraq, Laos, Lebanon, Myanmar, Russia, Syria and Ukraine. Ukraine registered 927, or roughly 87 percent of the global total, and remained the most affected country for a fourth consecutive year. The researchers cautioned that incomplete reporting means the real number is likely higher.
Civilians and unexploded remnants
Civilians represented 87 percent of casualties whose status was known, including at least 34 children. Most of the recorded harm came from attacks during 2025, but 117 people were killed or injured by remnants left from earlier use. Unexploded submunitions can remain in farmland, streets and residential areas long after fighting moves elsewhere.
That continuing danger explains why the Convention on Cluster Munitions combines a prohibition on use, production, acquisition, stockpiling and transfer with obligations covering clearance and victim assistance. The ICRC says the treaty also reinforces wider humanitarian-law duties to distinguish civilians from combatants and to take feasible precautions during attacks.
The treaty faces a critical test
The monitor reported use during the relevant period by several states outside the convention, including Russia and Ukraine, while documenting production capacity across a wider group of countries. Those findings arrive as 112 states parties prepare for the Third Review Conference in Vientiane, Laos, a country still affected by contamination dating back decades.
The conference will test whether governments can translate condemnation into practical measures. Priorities include protecting the norm against further withdrawals, accelerating clearance, restoring funding disrupted by aid reductions and guaranteeing medical care, rehabilitation and social inclusion for survivors. The next question is whether delegates adopt measurable commitments rather than limiting the meeting to another political declaration.