By: Drew W. Weglarz*
Abstract
Over the past five years, the global community has seen a rapid influx of military hostility. Now, probably more than ever, people fear a nuclear holocaust or a third World War. Superpower States like Russia, China, and Israel exacerbate this fear with their recent military activity. History teaches us that maintaining international peace is vital. Nonetheless, some nations are presently invading other sovereign states, killing and injuring civilians, and ignoring well-recognized international conventions and treaties.
For example, in February 2022, Russia launched a large-scale invasion into Ukraine, completely disregarding the United Nations’s prohibition on the crime of aggression and its Articles demanding respect for the sovereignty of nations. Throughout the hostilities of the Russo/Ukrainian war, both parties have perpetrated human rights atrocities, although more often from Russia than Ukraine. Specifically, cluster munition (hereinafter “CM”) deployment advanced to the forefront of the global community’s attention. As the deadly weapons are dropped from the sky, submunitions decimate markets, hospitals, apartment buildings, and schools. Despite global outcry, both Russia and Ukraine deem these weapons essential to their military efforts. And now, the United States has joined the conflict by supplying the Ukrainian military with CMs.
This Comment analyzes the history of CMs, the legal authorities supporting and opposing their use, and potential avenues for legal relief relating to violative CM use. More specifically, this Comment assesses the legal justifications and implications for the United States’s decision to send CMs into the Russo/Ukrainian conflict. Finally, this Comment concludes that the United States is legally justified in its decision to send CMs to the Ukrainian military.
* J.D. Candidate, The Pennsylvania State University School of Law, 2025. First, I want to thank Katherine Owens, Noah Pollio, and the rest of the 2024-2025 Penn State Law Review Editorial Board for their support. I also want to thank Danielle Sinn, Erik Blasic, and Jenn Bauer for their guidance in helping me to write this Comment. Finally, and most importantly, I want to thank my friends and family, especially my parents, for motivating me to keep moving forward when I needed a push.