Antigua and Barbuda signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 3 December 1997 and ratified it on 3 May 1999, becoming a State Party on 1 November 1999. Antigua and Barbuda has never used, produced, imported, exported, or stockpiled antipersonnel mines, including for training purposes. Antigua and Barbuda has stated that existing legislation makes any treaty it joins part of domestic law, and as such has no plans to enact separate legislation imposing penal sanctions as required by the treaty. Antigua and Barbuda submitted its initial Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 report on 29 March 2000, but has not provided subsequent annual reports.

Antigua and Barbuda did not attend any Mine Ban Treaty meetings in 2011 or the first half of 2012.

Antigua and Barbuda is party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons, but it has not ratified its Amended Protocol II on landmines or Protocol V on explosive remnants of war.

Policy

Antigua and Barbuda signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 16 July 2010 and ratified on 23 August 2010. The convention entered into force for Antigua and Barbuda on 1 February 2011, making it the first State Party from the Caribbean.

According to Antigua and Barbuda’s initial Article 7 transparency report dated 15 October 2012, adoption of the Convention on Cluster Munitions into domestic law is “still pending.” As of 1 June 2014, Antigua and Barbuda had not submitted annual updated transparency reports due by 30 April 2013 and 30 April 2014.

Antigua and Barbuda did not participate in the Oslo Process to create the convention, but officials indicated the government’s intent to join several times in 2009 and 2010.[1]

Antigua and Barbuda first attended a meeting of the Convention on Cluster Munitions in November 2010, when it participated in the First Meeting of States Parties in Vientiane, Lao PDR. Antigua and Barbuda did not participate in another meeting of the ban convention until the convention’s Fourth Meeting of States Parties in Lusaka, Zambia in September 2013, where it did not make a statement. Antigua and Barbuda attended intersessional meetings in Geneva in April 2013, but not those held April 2014.

Antigua and Barbuda participated in a regional workshop on cluster munitions in Santiago, Chile in December 2013 and endorsed a declaration committing to join efforts that permit the early establishment of a cluster munitions-free zone in Latin America and the Caribbean.[2]

Antigua and Barbuda has not yet condemned Syria’s use of cluster munitions.

Antigua and Barbuda has not yet stated its views on certain important issues related to interpretation and implementation of the convention, including the prohibition on transit, the prohibition on assistance during joint military operations with states not party that may use cluster munitions, the prohibition on foreign stockpiling of cluster munitions, the prohibition on investment in production of cluster munitions, and the need for retention of cluster munitions and submunitions for training and development purposes.

Antigua and Barbuda is a State Party to the Mine Ban Treaty. Antigua and Barbuda is also party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons.

Use, production, transfer, and stockpiling

Antigua and Barbuda stated “N/A” or not applicable in the Article 7 report forms on production and stockpiling, thereby confirming that it has not used, produced, transferred, or stockpiled cluster munitions.[3]