-The Southeast Asian country of Laos.
More than 50 years after America's bombing campaign
in Southeast Asia ended,
cluster bombs continue to kill and maim civilians here.
This report is from 2016, but unexploded bomblets
continue to put lives in danger.
-This man was making a fire in his garden
and a cluster bomb buried nearby exploded.
That's how he lost his arm.
Now we're going to fit him with a prosthetic.
-Sera Koulabdara is an anti-cluster-munitions activist
with Legacies of War.
-As someone who was born in Laos,
I grew up watching my father work and operate
on victims of cluster-munition accidents
like the ones that I'm holding here.
You know, these are examples of cluster munition.
And that had a profound impact on my life.
-Cluster munitions can be shells,
missiles, rockets, or bombs that explode in the air,
dropping bomblets over a wide area.
During the Vietnam War, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam
were heavily bombed by the US.
-You know, we estimate that at least 13 million tons
of ordnance were dropped in these three countries.
In Laos it's estimated at least 30% of these munitions
failed to explode on impact, leaving vast numbers,
millions of unexploded ordnance laying dormant in the ground
that can still be activated to this day 50 years later.
-The deadly legacy left by unexploded ordnance
led in part to a 2008 convention banning cluster munitions.
-And the reason that that treaty
was necessary in the first place
is that cluster munitions are indiscriminate weapons.
They do not discriminate between civilians and combatants.
-The United States, Ukraine, and Russia
are among the countries that did not sign the treaty.
In June, the Biden administration announced
they would supply the Ukraine military with cluster munitions
that are shot out of howitzers rather than dropped from planes.
-Mr. President on cluster munitions, why now?
-Because they're running out of ammunition.
-Supporters of the move argue that the cluster munitions
could help Ukraine boost its slow-moving counteroffensive.
Academics at the Royal United Services Institute
wrote that cluster munitions "greatly multiply
the efficiency of artillery fire against entrenched troops."
Russia has been accused
of using cluster munitions indiscriminately.
-We've also received credible reports of several cases
of Russian forces using cluster munitions,
including in populated areas.
-And the UN-partnered Cluster Munition Monitor
reported that Ukraine has also used its own cluster weapons.
The US decision is controversial,
leading Biden officials to defend the move.
-We're working with Ukraine to minimize the risks
associated with the decision.
The Ukrainian government has offered us assurances
in writing on the responsible use of DPICMs,
including that they will not use the rounds
in civilian-populated urban environments
and that they will record where they use these rounds,
which will simplify later demining efforts.
-The problem is that today's battlefield
is tomorrow's schoolyard.
And so whether the Ukrainians believe that they're using them
in only military areas could be true today,
but it could be completely untrue
five years, ten years, 20 years from now.
-The cluster munitions that we would provide
have dud rates far below what Russia is doing,
is providing -- not higher than 2.5%.
-The dud rate, or failure rate,
is the percentage of cluster bomblets
that do not explode on impact
but could still be dangerous for decades to come.
Koulabdara, from Legacies of War,
considers the dud rates to be misleading.
-Regardless of all the dud rates,
I will say this -- It's inconsistent, it's unreliable.
-And the costs of removing the dormant munitions
could be prohibitive for Ukraine once the war is over.
The US has already spent nearly $200 million
over the last 20 years to help Laos rid its territory of UXO,
or unexploded ordnance.
-It's easy and cheap to drop cluster munitions,
but it's very expensive and hard to do the demining work.
The long-term impact of this is deadly,
and the people that will bear the biggest burden from this
are Ukrainians, men, women and children,
and children that have yet to be born.
-A reality that many in Laos know all too well,
where a walk to school or working the fields
could lead to life-altering injury or death.