About the Appeal

Parliamentarians have a vital role to play in enhancing the protection of civilians in armed conflict and supporting efforts both internationally and nationally to stop the use of explosive weapons with wide area effects in populated areas. This appeal is coordinated by the International Network on Explosive Weapons (INEW), an international NGO partnership calling for immediate action to prevent human suffering from the use of explosive weapons in populated areas. It draws on the repeated calls of the UN Secretary-General to avoid the use of explosive weapons with wide area effects in populated areas, and for states to start discussions on a political response to address this harm by urgently developing an international political declaration.

International Parliamentary Appeal to prevent human suffering from the use of explosive weapons in populated areas

Armed conflicts are increasingly conducted among civilian populations and with weapon systems designed for open battlefields, presenting serious challenges to the protection of civilians in armed conflicts today.

We, the undersigned parliamentarians, express our deep concern at the grave harm civilians are suffering from bombing and shelling in towns and cities.

Tens of thousands of women, men and children are killed, injured and traumatised each year by the use of explosive weapons in the neighbourhoods where they live and work: when explosive weapons are used in populated areas, around 90% of those directly killed or injured are civilians. Record numbers of people are displaced, fleeing in search of safety. Vital power, water and sanitation infrastructure is destroyed, shutting down essential services including health care and education. Schools and hospitals are damaged or destroyed, food supplies disrupted, communities and areas contaminated with unexploded ordnance are rendered unsafe, and homes uninhabitable.

We call upon governments to urgently develop, adopt and implement an international commitment to address this clear and documented pattern of harm by stopping the use of explosive weapons with wide area effects in populated areas and assisting affected people and communities.

Download the appeal

Resources

• • Translations of the appeal (Spanish, French, German)
  • About the appeal
  • Background briefing paper on protecting civilians from the use of explosive weapons in populated areas
  • A template email to MPs
  • Visuals for photos here, here and here

Endorse the appeal

The Parliamentary Appeal is open to all members of national/state, provincial/local, and regional parliaments and congress to endorse. To sign, please email info@inew.org from your official parliamentary account indicating that you wish to be added and listed on the INEW website as an endorser.

Political response

Click here to see whether your country has recognised the harm explosive weapons cause and supported action to prevent it.

Call to action

At the signing conference of the political declaration to better protect civilians from the use of EWIPA in November 2022 in Dublin, a group of highly dedicated parliamentarians presented a Parliamentary Call to Action. With this, they committed to implement nine concrete actions for the follow-up of the agreement, “convinced of the historic and universal significance of this text”. Among others, they called for the creation of a “group of friends of the EWIPA political declaration” in national parliaments to encourage joint work within and outside the government on implementation, including via hearings, public questions, resolutions, media outreach, and public awareness-raising.

The call to action has already been endorsed by 100 parliamentarians and remains open for signature. The very first commitment is to sign the International Parliamentary Appeal. See the call to action here. A german version is also also available here. 

Endorsers

The list shows endorsers to the International Parliamentary Appeal. MPs who have also endorsed the Call to Action (CTA) are labelled accordingly.

Photo: © Handicap International – Humanity and Inclusion