Bunker Bombs Being Discussed in DISEC: A Deadly Weapon or a Tool for Defense?

The New York Times | 11:11 a.m. PT | Reporting by Logan Tseng

The Department and International Security Committee discussed the harms and benefits of Earth Penetrating Weapons (Bunker Busters/Bombs) where they were shown how it can kill families, sending a message about the harms of bunker busters.

Switzerland gave an important message to everyone during a moderated caucus about banning bunker busters because of the harms it does to people and how “it’s not a warrant on defense”. Many countries supported that opinion such as Egypt, Sweden, Germany, and South Africa.

There are some countries who give another opinion of Switzerland's proposition such as Iran. Iran gives a different opinion talking about giving only a restricted ban and the difficulties of banning everything. An example of this is that they can’t just take every bunker bomb from every country.

India also questions Switzerland's planning on banning bunker bombs talking about how terrorists can still use these weapons illegally. They sided with the Netherlands, who talked about terrorists using these kinds of weapons. That same country proposed a restricted ban and asked for more international cooperation so terrorists don’t get their hands on the weapons.

North Korea and Japan say that there should not be a full ban, but just heavier restrictions towards the bombs being used against smaller nations.

Similar to that, Turkey, who has no military, mentions that they have no way to defend themselves either way. They did not state however, whether they want a ban or not, but they gave a clear example of what would happen if bigger countries used it against weaker countries.

Overall, Switzerland has the most supporters and control of a complete ban on bunker bombs with other countries believing that there should be a restricted ban against being used on minority countries.