Prohibit the use of uranium weapons!

Natural uranium is a radioactive and toxic element consisting of three isotopes: 234U, 235U and 238U. Depleted uranium containing the isotope 235U is nuclear waste. Its radioactivity is reduced by about 40 % compared to natural uranium, which is taken as the most common argument in the thesis that its use for military purposes does not lead to the development of cancer. However, the fact is ignored that from a chemical point of view, natural and depleted uranium behave the same, and their chemical toxicity is the same. Since uranium is a pyrophoric metal, after the explosion of a DU projectile, it burns and creates toxic uranium oxide, which can be blown up to a distance of 40 kilometres by means of an aerosol. At the same time, plutonium is added to such missiles, which is highly radioactive, several thousand times more toxic and carcinogenic. Inhalation of these particles, as well as their introduction into the body through the skin, through food and/or water (due to environmental contamination), leads to numerous health consequences as well as the occurrence of malignant diseases.

Even 24 years after the NATO war:
Cancer numbers still rising

After 1999 and the NATO aggression against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the use of depleted uranium ammunition, the world public is shaken by a new syndrome – the Balkan syndrome. Illness and mortality from cancer of Italian soldiers, who participated in the cleaning of contaminated areas in the Balkans as part of peace contingents, led to the development of this syndrome.
  All research on cancer in Serbia indicates that the number of newly diagnosed cases, as well as the number of deaths, is increasing from year to year. The mortality rate from malignant tumors increased from 238.8 in 2001 to 305.9 per 100,000 inhabitants in 2017. Depleted uranium, released carcinogenic and toxic materials, destruction of infrastructure (hospitals, schools, roads), with particular damage to general living conditions and the environment, undoubtedly leads to endangering the health of the population of the bombed areas, and twenty-three years after the NATO aggression, the Republic of Serbia is facing a trend of increasing new cases of malignant diseases.
  With the bombing of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in 1999 by NATO forces, international law and elementary human rights were repeatedly violated. A war was fought on the territory of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, which in terms of its effects belongs to chemical and radiological wars. By using depleted uranium ammunition, NATO forces contributed to the effects of a radiological accident. By using the most modern means of combat, using the greatest intellectual achievements of mankind in the development of science and technology, NATO misused them for war purposes. Using these funds, NATO carried out over 25,000 attacks with the most modern fighter planes equipped with the most lethal weaponry, using them to kill the civilian population; for the destruction of military and civilian targets; destruction of means of work and survival of the population; for the destruction of economic potentials; destruction of objects protected by international law. Special mention should be made of the destruction of buildings whose damage caused long-term environmental pollution on a large scale, which further produces far-reaching consequences. Reckless warfare, conducted with the aim of inflicting as much damage as possible, is without a doubt contrary to international treaties and generally accepted rules of international law.

Destruction of existing resources

The aggression was not only aimed at military victory, but also at the destruction of all available capacities of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. It is about such a concept of waging war in which there are no exceptions in terms of goals, actions are taken against any goal that affects any interest of the one against whom the war is being waged. The limitations of warfare, in terms of actions, objectives and other limitations with a foothold in international law, have been completely ignored and marginalized. The aim of the aggression was obviously to inflict maximum damage in every sphere of life, with the aim of forcing the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia to declare capitulation.

The St. Petersburg Declaration of 1868

The St. Petersburg Declaration on the Prohibition of the Use of Certain Missiles in War of 29 November 1868 indicates that the only legitimate goal that states should have before themselves during war is the weakening of the enemy’s military forces, and that goal would be exceeded by the use of weapons that would unnecessarily increase suffering people put out of combat or would make their death inevitable. Without any doubt, it is a fact that the use of ammunition with depleted uranium more than exceeds the only legal and legitimate goal of warfare. Due to their characteristics, weapons with depleted uranium do not only affect the military forces of the “enemy”, but with their subsequent effect, such weapons inevitably affect the rest of the population as well as the environment. As such weapons cannot be directed only at a predetermined target, the use of such weapons must be interpreted as prohibited.
  In addition, combat means of this type are prohibited by Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949 on the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflicts. Article 35 of the protocol clearly stipulates that in any armed conflict the right of the parties to the conflict to choose the methods and means of warfare is not unlimited, and that it is prohibited to use weapons, missiles and materials and methods of warfare that cause unnecessary injuries or unnecessary suffering, as well as that it is prohibited to apply methods or means of warfare that are intended or can be expected to cause extensive, long-term and serious damage to the natural environment. According to the data that NATO gave to the United Nations, about 30,000 missiles with depleted uranium were fired in the area of Kosovo and Metohija, 2,500 missiles in Serbia proper and about 300 missiles in Montenegro, which violated the entire international law, explicit norms of international war in the crudest way. and humanitarian law.
  As a result of all of the above, it can undoubtedly be concluded that depleted uranium ammunition represents such a means of combat, the use of which must be viewed as prohibited in accordance with the provisions of international law, due to its chemical effect, causing excessive and unnecessary suffering, as well as causing serious, long-term and extensive damage to the natural environment.  •

(Translation Current Concerns)

* Professor Dr iur. Srdan Aleksić born in Bustranje, southern Serbia, in March 1968, is a lawyer in Nis. He has been fighting for many years for the victims of the NATO bombings with DU munitions as a result of the war against Yugoslavia in 1999. He represents more than 3,000 people suffering from cancer.