Indiscriminate weapons: how wars became so deadly for civilians

Key Concepts

Explosive Weapons in Populated Areas (EWIPA): The use of explosive weapons in urban or densely populated environments.
Blast Injury: Physical harm caused by the pressure wave of an explosion, independent of shrapnel.
International Humanitarian Law (IHL): The body of law that governs conduct during armed conflict, including the Geneva Conventions.
Distinction: The principle of IHL requiring parties to distinguish between combatants and civilians.
Precautions: The principle of IHL requiring parties to take all feasible precautions to avoid harming civilians.
Proportionality: The principle of IHL prohibiting attacks where civilian harm would be excessive in relation to the anticipated military advantage.
Accountability: The mechanisms (soft and hard) for holding individuals and states responsible for violations of IHL.
Normative Shift: A change in the accepted standards of behavior and expectations within the international community.

The Devastating Impact of Explosive Weapons on Children

This report, a collaboration between Save the Children and Imperial College London, highlights a critical and alarming trend: the escalating toll of explosive weapons on civilian populations, with children bearing a disproportionate and unprecedented burden. The analysis, presented on November 19, 2025, reveals a significant shift in warfare, leading to more indiscriminate violence and a tragic increase in child casualties.

Main Topics and Key Points

Record Child Casualties: In 2024 alone, nearly 60,000 civilians were killed globally, including 3,089 children. This figure represents the highest toll ever recorded and is more than five times higher than in 2020. Over the past five years, more than 50,000 children have been killed or injured, a number equivalent to 200 full passenger planes crashing with children on board.
Children's Unique Vulnerability: Children are not simply "little adults." Their anatomical and physiological differences make them uniquely susceptible to the effects of blast injuries.
- Anatomical Differences: A child's smaller size means that a blast wave, which might reach an adult's waist or torso, can engulf their entire body.
- Physiological Differences: Children have less blood volume, making them less able to withstand blood loss.
Geographic Scope of the Crisis: The conflicts contributing to the highest harm in the past year include the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Sudan, Syria, Ukraine, and Myanmar, indicating a widespread global issue.
Societal Impact of Child Casualties: The killing of children at scale is profoundly undermining to a nation's resilience and its ability to recover from conflict. It can destabilize health systems, as even well-practiced military trauma systems struggle to cope with pediatric casualties.
Emerging and New Weapon Types: The report expresses concern over new weapon technologies that contribute to indiscriminate harm.
- Glide Bombs: These weapons can easily destroy apartment buildings and cause widespread damage.
- "Dumb" Weapons: The term "dumb" is used to describe weapons that are less targeted and have wide-area effects, increasing the risk to civilians.
The Lethality of Blast Waves: Blast injuries can be fatal even without shrapnel. The pressure wave itself can damage the brain, solid organs, and lungs. The lower threshold for these effects in children, due to their size and physiology, makes them particularly vulnerable.
Knowledge Gaps in Pediatric Blast Injury: There is a significant lack of research on how these weapons specifically impact children. Long-term consequences, including developmental, behavioral, and educational impacts, are poorly understood.
Imperial College London's Research: The Center of Pediatric Blast Injury Studies at Imperial College London, in partnership with Save the Children, is dedicated to understanding and treating the effects of blast injuries on children. This includes developing practical solutions for rehabilitation, such as advanced prosthetics and artificial limbs, with the aim of creating technology that can be used even in challenging environments like Gaza.

Step-by-Step Processes and Methodologies

The report's methodology involved:

Data Collection and Analysis: Compiling and analyzing data on civilian casualties, with a specific focus on child casualties, from various conflict zones.
Scientific Research: Investigating the physiological and anatomical differences between children and adults in relation to blast injuries.
Expert Consultation: Gathering insights from military surgeons, humanitarian workers, and researchers.
Policy Review: Examining the effectiveness and application of international humanitarian law in contemporary conflicts.

Key Arguments and Perspectives

Weapons are Becoming More Indiscriminate: The report argues that while some modern weapons are marketed as precise, the overall trend is towards weapons with wider area effects, particularly when used in populated areas.
Shift in Perpetrators: A significant and concerning development is that state actors, rather than primarily non-state armed groups, are now responsible for the majority of civilian casualties resulting from explosive weapons.
Erosion of Norms and Accountability: There is a perceived decline in the effectiveness of both "soft" (normative) and "hard" (legal) accountability mechanisms. This international fragmentation allows governments to engage in practices that would have been considered unacceptable a decade or two ago.
Lag in Legal and Political Frameworks: International frameworks, such as the Political Declaration on Explosive Weapons in Populated Areas (2022), are struggling to keep pace with the realities of modern warfare. The declaration, while a positive step, has not yet achieved widespread normative impact.
The Importance of Re-establishing Taboos: Reinforcing the taboo against killing children in war is crucial. This requires a renewed focus on accountability and consequences for violations of international humanitarian law.
Divergent Public and Political Responses: There is a noticeable difference in public and media attention given to child casualties in different conflicts, suggesting a bias in how these tragedies are perceived.

Notable Quotes and Significant Statements

"Weapons are becoming more indiscriminate and civilians are paying the price." - Arthur Scott Gettys
"More children are being killed by explosive weapons today than at any point in history." - Arthur Scott Gettys
"Children are not just little adults. They're not little adults at all. They're children and they are affected by blast injuries in very different ways." - Professor Shihan Hetarachi
"The number of children killed or injured last year was the highest ever recorded." - George Graham
"The weapons are becoming dumber like glide bombs. So that traditional way that we would try and keep children out of the firing line by prosecuting wars in non-urban areas for example because that is changing children are now at higher risk." - George Graham
"The wave itself can affect the brain, the solid organs, the lungs, etc., and can be lethal if you get a certain dose." - Professor Shihan Hetarachi (describing blast injury)
"We've got this massive problem which is getting bigger and we don't really know what the long-term strategies are to make sure that population, those children can grow up to leave the best lives they can." - Professor Shihan Hetarachi
"The new weaponry that's being used... glide bombs which can blow up an apartment easily and do frequently. So that's a technological change, but I don't really want to emphasize that too much because I think a bigger change is in the attitudes of perpetrators to conflict to their responsibilities to ensure the minimum possible civilian harm. That is to say, they're not trying very hard to do that." - George Graham
"The Geneva Conventions... one of the key principles in that is distinction... you distinguish between civilians and combatants. And then once you have that distinction, you have precautions... And then you have the principle of proportionality..." - George Graham
"We are now in a world that is so fractured internationally that government after government... think they can get away with acts that 10 or 15 years ago they would not have thought they could get away with." - George Graham
"The political declaration on exposure weapons... it's not famous, right? Most of your listeners, I'd imagine nearly all of them have not heard of this declaration. So it hasn't really landed..." - George Graham
"We have been living in a much better era. And that's something to celebrate, but we are now seeing serious backsliding." - George Graham
"They knew how bad war was and they took it seriously and they would not have sat around saying, 'Oh, well, it's okay those kids got killed because there was terrorists there.'" - Professor Shihan Hetarachi (referencing the drafters of the Geneva Conventions)
"I really agree and it makes me very anxious and sad because I think people aren't fully... not letting their imaginations fully get their heads around how awful war is." - Professor Shihan Hetarachi
"The only way we can reinforce or stop the backslide that George talked about is that accountability. So I think there has to be both soft and hard accountability for what has happened in these different conflicts..." - Professor Shihan Hetarachi
"Actually, I'm optimistic and optimism is what we do actually as humanitarians..." - George Graham
"...if you spend time around these children they will infect you with optimism because doesn't matter what their injuries are they will go on living. They will go on being children. They will go on growing." - Professor Shihan Hetarachi

Technical Terms and Concepts

Explosive Weapons (EW): Weapons that function by the detonation of explosives, including artillery, rockets, mortars, bombs, and improvised explosive devices.
Wide Area Effects: The characteristic of certain weapons to cause damage over a large area, making them inherently indiscriminate in populated settings.
Shrapnel: Fragments of a bomb, shell, or other object thrown out by an explosion.
Pediatric Population: Children, a distinct demographic with unique medical needs and vulnerabilities.
Prosthetics: Artificial body parts, such as limbs, used to replace missing ones.
3D Printing: An additive manufacturing process used to create three-dimensional objects from a digital model, enabling rapid prototyping and customized medical devices.
International Humanitarian Law (IHL): The body of law that governs the conduct of armed conflict and seeks to limit its effects.
Geneva Conventions: A series of treaties that form the core of international humanitarian law, establishing standards for the treatment of victims of armed conflict.
Distinction, Precautions, Proportionality: Core principles of IHL governing the conduct of hostilities.
International Criminal Court (ICC): An intergovernmental organization and international tribunal that was founded to help try individuals accused of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide.
Normative: Relating to or deriving from a standard or norm, especially of behavior.

Logical Connections Between Sections

The discussion flows logically from the stark reality of increased child casualties to the underlying causes, the specific mechanisms of harm, the legal and ethical frameworks, and finally, potential pathways forward. The vulnerability of children is explained through their unique physiology, which is then linked to the indiscriminate nature of modern warfare and the erosion of international norms. The legal principles are presented as the intended safeguards, and their current ineffectiveness is highlighted as a key driver of the crisis. The report concludes with a call for renewed accountability and a cautiously optimistic outlook based on humanitarian commitment and the resilience of children.

Data, Research Findings, and Statistics

2024 Civilian Fatalities: Nearly 60,000.
2024 Child Fatalities: 3,089.
Child Fatalities vs. 2020: More than five times higher.
Children Killed/Injured (Past 5 Years): Over 50,000.
Children Living in Conflict Zones: One in five globally.
State Actors' Contribution to Casualties: 90% of casualties.
Political Declaration on EWIPA: Adopted in 2022.

Clear Section Headings

Introduction: The Escalating Crisis of Child Casualties
Understanding Children's Unique Vulnerability to Blast Injuries
The Global Scope and Societal Impact of Child Casualties
Weaponry and Warfare: The Drivers of Indiscriminate Harm
The Legal and Ethical Framework: International Humanitarian Law
Erosion of Accountability and Norms
Moving Forward: Re-establishing Taboos and Fostering Optimism

Synthesis/Conclusion

The report unequivocally demonstrates a dire and worsening situation regarding the impact of explosive weapons on children. The confluence of evolving warfare tactics, the use of weapons with wide-area effects in populated areas, and a weakening of international accountability mechanisms has created an unprecedented crisis. While the legal frameworks exist to protect civilians, their application and enforcement are failing, particularly for the most vulnerable. Despite the grim statistics and the concerning trends, there remains a strong undercurrent of hope, rooted in the inherent resilience of children and the dedicated efforts of humanitarian organizations and researchers. The path forward requires a renewed commitment to international humanitarian law, robust accountability for violations, and a collective effort to re-establish and reinforce the global taboo against the killing of children in conflict.