Do the ILC’s Draft Principles on Remnants and Data Sharing Reflect State Practice?

Oct 6, 2016 | Doug Weir
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A new report from PAX and ICBUW on the legacy of depleted uranium use in the 2003 Iraq War could help inform the debate initiated by the International Law Commission this summer on the emerging legal principles for the post-conflict management of toxic and hazardous remnants of war.

The report – Targets of Opportunity – makes use of recently released targeting data from US A-10 Thunderbolt II aircraft to map and analyse the use of 30mm depleted uranium (DU) ammunition in the first month of the 2003 conflict. In doing so, it increases the number of sites known to be contaminated in Iraq from around 300 to more than 1,000. It also documents the widespread use of the armour-piercing incendiary ammunition against non-armoured targets – something that runs counter to US Air Force legal restrictions for the weapons, as well as the US’s energetic public relations efforts.