http://www.un.org/documents/ga/docs/55/a55131a1.pdf
(b) The United States made extensive use of depleted-uranium munitions
against Iraq in 1991 and again against Yugoslavia in 1999. Depleted uranium is a
type of radiation weapon that destroys life and the environment in the area in which
it is used for generations to come. The use of depleted-uranium munitions against
Iraq has led to a sharp increase in cases of cancer, miscarriages and births of
deformed children in the same southern governorates of Iraq that served as the
theatre in which these weapons were used. Their use caused the deaths of 50,000
Iraqi children in the following year. They also affected United States and British
soldiers. The United States Veterans Administration surveyed 251 families of
victims of Gulf war syndrome in Mississippi and found that 67 per cent of them had
had severely deformed children after the war. The Baltimore Medical Center
detected high levels of radiation in the urine of American soldiers five years after
the Gulf war. The catastrophic consequences that the use of depleted uranium has
had for man and the environment in Iraq and the neighbouring countries will persist
for generations to come, given that it has transformed a large part of Iraq’s territory
into a contaminated and radioactive zone. Serious thought must be given to the
elaboration of a convention to prohibit the use of depleted uranium in weapons, and
until such time as a convention is in place States should declare a voluntary
prohibition of the use of this weapon of mass destruction.
http://www.lcnp.org/wcourt/Bombs%20away.htm
However, on July 8 this year, the International Court of Justice took a giant step toward kicking the nuclear habit. Sitting only blocks from the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, and using some of the same principles of law that apply to war crimes and crimes against humanity, the ICJ held that "the threat or use of nuclear weapons would generally be contrary to the rules of international law applicable in armed conflict."
http://www.nuclearfiles.org/menu/library/treaties/international-court-justice/trty_international-court-justice_nuclear-weapons_1997-10-30.htm
The most authoritative consideration of international law as it relates to nuclear weapons is given in the 1996 Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice on the Legality of the Threat or Use of Nuclear Weapons (Appendix I). The court applied treaty law and customary law to determine that the threat or use of nuclear weapons is generally illegal and that there is an obligation to conclude negotiations on complete nuclear disarmament. The conclusion on illegality of threat or use was based predominantly on the principles of humanitarian law under which it is prohibited to use weapons or methods of warfare which:
are directed against civilians or cannot discriminate between military targets and civilians
cause unnecessary suffering to combatants
are disproportionate to the act to which is being responded violate the territory of neutral states
cause long-term and widespread damage to the environment
use poisonous substances.
Det er således den internationale humanitære lov, der sætter grænserne for anvendelsen af forskellige våbentyper. Det er jo den vi bekender os til, når vi skælder de andre ud, men altså rask væk ignorerer, når vi selv finder det betimeligt, at anvende beskidte bomber, som depleted uran jo er.:)
Rap