“The Lao people were the victim of these deadly munitions more than five decades ago, and to this day it continues to be affected by unexploded munitions, since they represent a serious threat to the life and livelihood of our people,” the local Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

“Laos calls on any State or actor to refrain from all use, production, transfer and storage of such explosives, as prescribed in the Convention on Cluster Munitions, so that no one in the world falls victim to such an atrocious weapon.”

President Joe Biden announced a few days ago that the United States would send cluster munitions to Ukraine to be used in the conflict with Russia, sparking immediately a wave of criticism and alerts from NGOs, international organizations, and several countries.

Experts say that back in the early 1970s, over 30 million cluster munitions were dropped by US troops on Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, which continue to cause casualties in those countries.

Cluster munitions explode in the air over a target, releasing dozens of smaller explosives (“sub-munitions” or “bomblets”) that are supposed to explode on impact with the ground, but some do not explode and end up creating a long-term security problem for civilians.

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