Cluster Munition Coalition Definition
for the Future Cluster Munition Convention
October 2007

By the Cluster Munition Coalition, October 11, 2007.



Any munition which meets the following definition would be prohibited by the convention.

Definition

A cluster munition is a weapon comprising multiple explosive submunitions which are dispensed from a container.

An explosive submunition is a munition designed to be dispensed in multiple quantities from a container and to detonate prior to, on, or after impact.

Notes on the Definition

The CMC definition is deliberately short and simple, without extraneous technical terminology.  The CMC feels that a much longer, more complicated definition that tries to account (either through explicit inclusion or exclusion) for everything that might conceivably be considered a “cluster munition” would be unnecessary and possibly counter-productive for this convention. This should not be conceived as an arms control treaty between potential adversaries, but as a humanitarian agreement among like-minded states.

With this definition there is no exception for:

• submunitions with self-destruct, self-deactivation or self-neutralizing features;
• submunitions based on a specified reliability rate;
• so-called “direct fire” submunitions;
• cluster munitions based solely on a limit on the number of submunitions;
• so-called “sensor-fuzed” submunitions.(1)

The definition would not prohibit non-explosive or inert submunitions or pyrotechnic submunitions such as smoke, flare or illuminating submunitions.

There could be differing interpretations on the status of the following, which negotiators should clarify:

• incendiary submunitions;
• remotely-delivered landmines;
• nuclear weapons with multiple warheads;
• chemical and biological submunitions.