DIPLOMACY

Background: The Political Declaration on Explosive Weapons in Populated Areas

On 18 November 2022, in Dublin, 83 states endorsed the Political Declaration on Strengthening the Protection of Civilians from the Humanitarian Consequences Arising from the Use of Explosive Weapons in Populated Areas. It is the first international political agreement to specifically address the use of explosive weapons in populated urban areas.

The declaration commits endorsing states to adopt national policies that restrict or refrain from using explosive weapons with wide-area effects in towns and cities. It also asks states to strengthen operational policies and military practices, improve data collection on civilian casualties, provide assistance to affected populations, and meet regularly to review how the declaration is being implemented.

As of April 2026, 91 states have endorsed the declaration. The list of endorsing states is published here.

The declaration sets political commitments rather than legal obligations. It provides a framework for states to coordinate on civilian protection and to share practices for reducing harm from the use of explosive weapons in populated areas.

What the declaration commits to, and what it doesn't

The core of the declaration is its commitment in paragraph 3.3, where endorsing states agree that their armed forces will adopt policies "restricting or refraining as appropriate from the use of explosive weapons in populated areas, when their use may be expected to cause harm to civilians or civilian objects."

Those words were the subject of three years of negotiation. States across the world had wanted stronger language. Some wanted the declaration to commit endorsing states to avoid the use of explosive weapons in populated areas altogether. Others wanted it to stop the practice, or to establish a presumption against the use of these weapons in cities and towns where civilians live. Norway argued for minimise in place of restrict.

A cross-regional coalition pushed in this direction. The State of Palestine, Chile, Mexico, Ecuador, Austria, and South Africa argued for stronger commitments throughout the negotiations, joined by the International Committee of the Red Cross and the UN Secretary-General. Two earlier regional agreements had already committed to the stronger formulation. The Maputo Communiqué was signed by 19 African states in 2017. The Santiago Communiqué was signed by 23 Latin American and Caribbean states in 2018. Both used identical wording: avoid the use of explosive weapons with wide area effects in populated areas.

The declaration's final wording, restrict or refrain as appropriate, was a compromise. It went less far than many endorsing states themselves had wanted.

The declaration acknowledges this in its own structure. Paragraph 4.7 commits endorsing states to meet regularly to review how the declaration is being implemented and to keep the work moving. Several states described the declaration at adoption as a starting point rather than an end. That is the spirit in which Project Nine Ten works. The declaration is real but unfinished. Implementation is where the work continues.