Incendiary Weapons

Incendiary weapons produce heat and fire through the chemical reaction of a flammable substance. They cause terrible burn wounds and damage to civilians and civilian objects, often leading to long term harm and psychological trauma.

Brandbommen veroorzaken hitte en vuur door een chemische reactie van een ontvlambare stof. Ze veroorzaken verschrikkelijke brandwonden en schade aan burgers en burgerobjecten, wat vaak leidt tot langdurige schade en psychologisch trauma. 

In de afgelopen 15 jaar zijn brandbommen gebruikt in Afghanistan, Gaza, Irak, Libanon, Palestina, Somalië, Syrië, Oekraïne en Jemen. 


Stop the use of incendiary weapons 


Incendiary Weapons cause excruciating harm to civilians. Currently, international law (more specifically Protocol III of the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons) prohibits the use of air-delivered incendiary weapons in ‘concentrations of civilians’ , but is not as strong for ground-launched weapons. At the same time, many states believe the rules do not apply to munitions that were not ‘primarily designed’ as incendiary weapons but have the same effect nonetheless. 

What are incendiary weapons

Incendiary weapons contain materials such as napalm, thermite, magnesium powder, chlorine trifluoride, or white phosphorus. They are not explosive weapons but use ignition rather than detonation for a chemical, burning reaction. Napalm, for example, is petroleum especially thickened into a gel to slow, but not stop, combustion, releasing energy over a longer time than a regular explosive device. White phosphorus is a chemical waxy solid substance that ignites instantly upon contact with oxygen. Once ignited, white phosphorus is very difficult to extinguish. It sticks to surfaces – like skin and clothing – and the smoke from burning phosphorus is harmful to the eyes and respiratory system. After it is extinguised it will re-ignite when in contact with oxygen, causing terrible burn wounds to the skin. 

What PAX wants

 PAX calls on states to:  

  • Acknowledge the humanitarian harm caused by incendiary weapons  
  • Condemn the use of any type of incendiary weapon by any actor
  • Refrain from the use of all incendiary weapons, including white phosphorous, especially in populated areas 
  • To strengthen the existing rules in the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (Protocol III) on incendiary weapons.  

Statements

Publications

Partners

Contact

Roos Boer, Project Leader Humanitarian Disarmament