Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 2024

Floor Speech

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Ms. TITUS. Mr. Chair, I join my colleagues in support of this vital amendment to avert more widespread harm to civilians in areas contaminated by unexploded ordnance. We should ban these cluster bombs and the transfer of them to other countries.

Thousands of communities across Southeast Asia, the Caucasus, and Eastern Europe face lingering dangers from landmines and explosive remnants of war dating back to World War II, the Vietnam war, and the Indochina wars. Many Pacific island nations are still contaminated by unexploded ordnance following World War II battles between Japan and the Allied forces.

Cluster munitions have continued to be lethal decades after they were originally deployed. Laos, the most heavily bombed country per capita in history, has suffered an estimated 50,000 civilian casualties from explosive remnants of war since 1964. Cambodia and Vietnam have seen over 64,000 and 105,000 casualties since 1975, respectively.

If you have visited these countries, you may have encountered little musical groups on the streets of the victims of these cluster bombs. As you heard, what is really tragic is about two-thirds of those who are injured or killed are children.

The land in Ukraine that has been contaminated by explosive ordnance has increased tenfold and now takes up 30 percent of the country, representing an area the size of Florida or twice the size of the entire country of Portugal.

There is a reason why a vast majority of the international community, our allies, have banned cluster bombs. It is time for the U.S. to follow suit.

Mr. Chair, I am pleased to support this amendment, and I thank my colleagues for bringing it.

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