Explosive weapons and the future of peace: why civilian harm anywhere threatens stability everywhere

by Ghassan Shahrour

When the International Network on Explosive Weapons (INEW) released its 2025 global report in May 2026, it delivered a message the world can no longer ignore: explosive weapons in populated areas are reshaping the nature of conflict worldwide. From Latin America to Eastern Europe, from the Sahel to South Asia, and across the Arab region, urban bombardment has become a defining feature of modern warfare, with consequences that extend far beyond national borders.

INEW recorded more than 22,600 civilians killed by explosive weapons in 2025.Humanitarian operations were hit 2,541 times. Education facilities were damaged or destroyed in 1,416 incidents. Health services were struck 1,272 times. Civilian harm was documented in 65 countries and territories, a clear sign that this is not a regional crisis but a global emergency.

The devastation is not limited to immediate casualties. When explosive weapons destroy homes, water systems, power grids, and hospitals, the effects cascade across borders and generations. Public health collapses. Epidemics spread more easily. Food insecurity deepens. Displacement increases. Children lose years of education. Trauma becomes a shared inheritance.

These patterns are visible worldwide. In Ukraine, the destruction of energy and health infrastructure has created long‑term public‑health risks. In Myanmar, bombardment of villages has driven mass displacement into neighboring countries. In the Sahel, explosive violence has accelerated the collapse of already fragile health systems. And in the Arab region; including Gaza, Lebanon, Yemen, Sudan, and Syria, the compounded effects of repeated bombardment have pushed entire populations to the brink of survival.

These are not isolated tragedies. They are part of a global pattern in which explosive weapons are systematically degrading the health, stability, and resilience of societies.

But the most enduring impact is not physical. It is psychological and political. Repeated bombardment produces grief, anger, resentment, and a profound sense of injustice. These emotions shape collective memory, influence political behavior, and determine whether communities will trust or reject future peace efforts. Civilian harm today becomes the architecture of tomorrow’s conflict.

This is why the global implications matter. When civilian protection erodes in one region, it weakens norms everywhere. When one state uses explosive weapons indiscriminately, others take note. When accountability fails in one conflict, it becomes harder to enforce in the next. The world is witnessing a dangerous normalization of urban warfare, and with it, a weakening of the international system designed to prevent mass suffering.

Legitimacy is at the heart of this challenge. INEW’s data shows that state armed forces were responsible for 85 percent of all incidents affecting civilians in 2025. This underscores the urgent need for stronger global accountability mechanisms and for armed actors to adopt robust civilian‑protection policies. Those who minimize harm, conduct transparent investigations, and cooperate with humanitarian and civil society organizations preserve political capital for future negotiations. Those who disregard civilian suffering accumulate a moral and strategic deficit that may haunt them long after the fighting ends.

Civil society and campaigners are central to reversing this global trajectory. From Latin America’s human‑rights networks to African peace coalitions, from European disarmament groups to Arab humanitarian organizations, civil society is documenting violations, advocating for policy reform, supporting survivors, and preserving the social fabric that conflict seeks to tear apart. Their work is not peripheral. It is essential to rebuilding trust, restoring dignity, and laying the groundwork for peace.

The 2022 Political Declaration on Strengthening the Protection of Civilians from the Humanitarian Consequences Arising from the Use of Explosive Weapons in Populated Areas — now endorsed by more than ninety states — offers a critical global framework. The INEW report highlights areas of progress, including new national policies on harm mitigation and improved data collection. But it also shows that implementation remains uneven and that global enforcement, transparent reporting, and stronger partnerships with civil society are urgently needed.

History repeatedly shows that peace agreements are easier to sign than to sustain. Lasting peace depends on whether societies emerge from war with enough trust, legitimacy, and social cohesion to prevent renewed cycles of violence. Protecting civilians is therefore not only a humanitarian obligation; it is the foundation on which durable peace is built.

Peace does not begin at the negotiating table. It begins with the choices made today about whether civilians are protected or sacrificed. Every bomb that destroys a home also destroys a portion of the trust upon which tomorrow’s peace depends, whether in Gaza, Khartoum, Kyiv, Port‑au‑Prince, or beyond.

Every civilian spared from explosive violence becomes part of humanity’s living legacy — proof that compassion can outlast conflict. Protecting life today is how societies write their moral history, ensuring that future generations inherit not ruins, but the memory of restraint and the possibility of peace.

Protecting civilians is not charity. It is an investment in the health, stability, and legitimacy upon which global peace must be built.

Dr. Ghassan Shahrour, coordinator of the Arab Human Security Network, is a medical doctor and human rights advocate specializing in health, disability, disarmament, and human security. This article was originally published in CounterCurrents, and is republished with permission under their fair use policy.