UN and Red Cross chiefs appeal for end to use of explosive weapons in cities

António Guterres and Peter Maurer have issued a joint appeal which calls on countries and warring parties to avoid the use of explosive weapons in populated areas.

“When cities are bombed and shelled – whether by airstrikes, rockets, artillery or improvised explosive devices – civilians overwhelmingly bear the brunt,” they said.

“In fact, the large majority of casualties – over 90 per cent, according to one estimate – are civilians. The harrowing images from population centres in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, and Ukraine – to name but a few – show a pattern of grave civilian harm impossible to ignore, yet too often forgotten.”

Armed conflict in cities also damages and destroys hospitals, electric power plants and other infrastructure required for the functioning of basic services, thus adding to the suffering experienced by civilians.

Those who survive find that life becomes unbearable and they are often forced to flee, such as the approximately 100,000 people displaced by heavy bombing and shelling in fighting around Tripoli, Libya, which began in April.