WASHINGTON — In light of the Biden Administration’s recent decision to provide cluster munitions to Ukraine, Bishop David J. Malloy of Rockford, chairman of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Committee on International Justice and Peace, raised concern about their use in the Russia-Ukraine war. His full statement follows: 

“Over 100 countries, including the Holy See, have signed the 2010 Convention on Cluster Munitions banning their use, recognizing their indiscriminate nature and risk to civilian populations long after fighting has ceased. But the United States and Russia have not signed the agreement. I, and my predecessors as chairmen of the USCCB’s Committee on International Justice and Peace, have long urged the U.S. government to sign on to both the Convention on Cluster Munitions and the Mine Ban Treaty. 

“Pope Francis has addressed the conventions on antipersonnel mines and cluster munitions, exhorting all countries to commit to these conventions ‘so that there are no more mine victims.’ While recognizing Ukraine’s right to self-defense, we must continue to pray for dialogue and peace, and I join with our Holy Father in supporting and sharing in his moral concern and aspiration.”