Chile was actively involved in the process to develop a Political Declaration on the use of explosive weapons in populated areas, and was among the first group of states to endorse the Political Declaration in Dublin in November 2022.
In the first informal consultations on the Declaration in November 2019, Chile delivered a joint statement with seven other Latin American and Caribbean states. In this statement, states delineated key elements of a Political Declaration on explosive weapons in populated areas including: acknowledgement of the likely humanitarian consequences of the use of explosive weapons of wide area effects in populated areas; a commitment to avoid use of such weapons in populated areas and to develop military operational policies and procedures in this regard and identify, develop and exchange best practices; promote greater compliance with international humanitarian and human rights law; commit states to enable secure and sustainable humanitarian access; recognize the rights of victims and affected communities; encourage collection of disaggregated data; strengthen cooperation and partnerships with international organizations and civil society organizations to draw upon their relevant expertise and support.1
During the consultations, Chile supported the notion that a Political Declaration on explosive weapons in populated areas use should address indirect, long-term, and reverberating effects of explosive weapons in populated areas, such as displacement, disruption of essential services, increased poverty, destruction of the environment, contamination through explosive remnants of war, psychological trauma, disabilities, and similar issues. Chile asserted that the Declaration should commit states to avoid using explosive weapons with wide area effects in populated areas, not seek to establish a prohibition of the use of a specific weapon but instead establish a threshold of their use to reduce damage to civilians. Chile called for the Declaration to recognise the rights of victims and affected communities and to provide adequate and non-discriminatory victim assistance. Chile also called for the consideration of non-state actors in the Political Declaration.2
Chile delivered several joint statements with Mexico throughout the consultation process in which it reaffirmed many of these positions3 and called for the Political Declaration to include clear delineations of existing obligations under international humanitarian law (IHL) in order to promote adherence to them regarding explosive weapons in populated areas use.4 It asserted that the Political Declaration should strengthen compliance with IHL through the creation of new policy commitments.5 These joint statements also emphasised the importance of clarity regarding the harm caused by the use of explosive weapons in populated areas, opposing the suggestions of other states to include qualifiers6, and spoke in favour of inclusive international cooperation and called for a transparent implementation and follow-up process to monitor progress on the commitments within the Political Declaration.7 At the fourth round of consultations, Chile and Mexico’s joint comments on the draft welcomed the removal of the caveated language throughout the text, as well as the clear acknowledgement of the multifaceted nature of the effects caused by the use of explosive weapons in populated areas on the civilian population. They also welcomed a proposal to include an additional paragraph that clarifies the application of international human rights law during armed conflict.
At the final consultation in June 2022, Chile and Mexico welcomed the final version of the draft, and said that although paragraph 3.3 does not reflect the language that they would have preferred (a commitment to “avoid” the use of explosive weapons in populated areas), it does establish a concrete political commitment that goes beyond the mere implementation of IHL. They said that the paragraph should be implemented as a clear-cut commitment to avoid the use of explosive weapons of wide area effects in populated areas.8
Statements and positions
Chile has several times aligned with other states to deliver statements on explosive weapons in populated areas in multilateral forums. In 2018, Chile hosted the Santiago Regional Meeting on Protecting Civilians from the Use of Explosive Weapons in Populated Areas in 2018, attended by 22 other Latin American and Caribbean states and resulting in the Santiago Communiqué in which the participating states agreed to take further action on the issue9. Chile reaffirmed its commitment to the Santiago Communique in a statement during the May 2019 Security Council Open Debate on the Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict10, and at the UN Security Council Open Debate War in Cities: Protection of Civilians in Urban Settings on 25 January 2022, Chile called on all parties to conflict to avoid the use of explosive weapons in populated areas.11 In 2018 and 2019, Chile joined some 50 and 71 states respectively to endorse joint statements on the use of explosive weapons in populated areas at the UN General Assembly First Committee, calling attention to the devastating and long-lasting humanitarian impact of the use of explosive weapons in populated areas and urging states to reverse the trend of high levels of civilian harm 12.
Chile has condemned the use of explosive weapons in populated areas as a member of the Human Security Network at both the August 2013 Security Council Open Debate on the Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict13 and the 2014 Security Council Open Debate on the Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict.14 In these statements, the Human Security Network called for all parties to an armed conflict to refrain from using explosive weapons with a wide impact area in populated areas, emphasising that these weapons are indiscriminate within their zones of detonation and therefore pose unacceptable risks to civilians.
Chile aligned with the World Humanitarian Summit Core Commitments to ‘Uphold the Norms that Safeguard Humanity’ in 2016. This included the commitment “to promote and enhance the protection of civilians and civilian objects, especially in the conduct of hostilities, for instance by working to prevent civilian harm resulting from the use of wide-area explosive weapons in populated areas, and by sparing civilian infrastructure from military use in the conduct of military operations.”15