Cluster bombs are wide area munitions, difficult to use safely in civilian areas. Cluster bombs are small, and very difficult to track, map, or find. Many of the submunitions bury themselves, gradually coming to the surface over time, or as a result of agricultural activity. Cluster munitions are sensitive to the touch even when they do not function as designed. Children find them almost irresistible, and often play with them even after they have been warned of the danger.
Cluster munitions continue to maim and kill long after a war has ended.
Despite these predictable effects, there are no international conventions which explicitly restrict or ban the use of cluster munitions. However, in recent years, government leaders restricted or halted the use of cluster munitions during several times of conflict, because of concerns about their indiscriminate effects. In the context of the Campaign to Ban Landmines, the issue of cluster munitions has surfaced frequently, due to the similarity in effect between landmines and cluster munitions. Contractors from around the globe produce cluster bombs, multiple rocket launcher systems, submunitions, and their components. A non-exclusive list includes manufacturers in Belgium, Brazil, Chile, China, the Czech Republic, Egypt, France, India, Israel, Italy, Germany, North Korea, Poland, Romania, South Africa, South Korea, Sweden, Turkey, the United Kingdom, the United States, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.