§ Lord Juddasked Her Majesty's Government:
In relation to the most recent war in Iraq, what arrangements they are making, together with the United States, to establish how many civilians were killed; how many civilians were wounded as the result of the employment of cluster bombs; how many civilians have been killed and how many civilians have been wounded by the detonation of unexploded cluster bombs; and how many unexploded cluster bombs and bomblets have so far been rendered safe since the end of the war. [HL3839]
§ Lord BachWe have no viable means of ascertaining the numbers of civilians who were killed or injured by cluster bombs during or since the coalition's military action.
United Kingdom and other coalition explosive ordnance disposal teams in the UK's area of responsibility have completed over 1,000 tasks and destroyed over 100,000 individual munitions. We do not record types of munitions destroyed.
A full survey of sites contaminated with unexploded munitions is now under way. The survey is being conducted in concert with other coalition forces, nongovernmental organisations and demining companies. On average the survey is identifying 30 new EOD tasks each week.