The Republic of Bulgaria signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 3 December 1997 and ratified it on 4 September 1998, becoming a State Party on 1 March 1999. Bulgaria ceased antipersonnel mine export in 1996 and production in 1998. It reported 72 minefields on its territory, which had been laid during the Cold War. Bulgaria believes that existing legislation is sufficient to enforce the antipersonnel mine prohibition domestically. In 2011, Bulgaria submitted its 13^th Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 report.

Bulgaria finished destruction of its stockpile of 885,872 antipersonnel mines in December 2000, well ahead of its treaty-mandated destruction deadline of 1 March 2003. Bulgaria initially retained 10,446 mines for training purposes, but this was reduced to 3,672 by 31 March 2010 and has remained unchanged since.[1] In its 2010 Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 report, Bulgaria also reported possessing 171,050 antipersonnel mines transferred to Bulgaria by Greece for the purpose of destruction.[2] By October 2010, Bulgaria had destroyed 614,882 Greek mines, but the contract for destruction was terminated.[3]

Bulgaria attended the Tenth Meeting of States Parties in Geneva in November–December 2010 and the intersessional Standing Committee meetings in Geneva in June 2011.

Bulgaria served as co-rapporteur and then co-chair of the Standing Committee on Stockpile Destruction from 2008–2010.

Bulgaria is party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons and its Amended Protocol II on landmines and Protocol V on explosive remnants of war.

Clearance of all antipersonnel mines in mined areas was completed by 31 October 1999, well in advance of its 1 March 2009 mine clearance deadline.

 

Commitment to the Convention on Cluster Munitions

Policy

The Republic of Bulgaria signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 3 December 2008, ratified on 6 April 2011, and the convention entered into force for the country on 1 October 2011.

Under national implementation measures, Bulgaria has declared that no special national legislation will be considered for adoption because under the Constitution, international treaties ratified by Bulgaria become part of domestic law.[1] In a 13 May 2014 letter to the Monitor, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed that existing legislation “is considered sufficient to accommodate the provisions” of the ban convention.[2] In April 2014, Bulgaria stated that an inter-ministerial working group established to coordinate implementation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions was developing a national plan for the destruction of its stockpiles of cluster munitions.[3]

Bulgaria submitted its initial Article 7 transparency report for the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 27 March 2012 and provided annual updated reports in 2013 and on 8 April 2014.[4]

Bulgaria played a notable role in the Oslo Process that created the Convention on Cluster Munitions, including hosting a regional conference in September 2008. It was among a handful of states to announce a unilateral moratorium on the use of cluster munitions prior to the creation of the convention.[5]

Bulgaria has continued to engage in the work of the convention in 2013 and the first half of 2014. It has attended every annual Meeting of States Parties of the convention with the exception of the Fourth Meeting of States Parties in Lusaka, Zambia in September 2013. It has participated in all the convention’s intersessional meetings held in Geneva, including in April 2014, where it provided an update on its progress on stockpile destruction.

Bulgaria has not made a national statement to express concern at Syria’s use of cluster munitions, but it has voted in favor of UN General Assembly (UNGA) resolutions condemning the cluster munition use, including Resolution 68/182 on 18 December 2013, which expressed “outrage” at “continued widespread and systematic gross violations of human rights…including those involving the use of…cluster munitions.”[6]

Bulgaria is a State Party to the Mine Ban Treaty. It is also party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons.

Interpretive issues

In 2009, Bulgaria provided its views on a number of important issues related to the interpretation and implementation of the convention. Bulgaria has stated it interprets Article 1 of the convention to mean that “transit” of cluster munitions across the territory of States Parties is prohibited, as is the stockpiling of foreign-owned cluster munitions. Bulgaria has also noted that while a ban on investment in cluster munition production is not explicit in the convention text, it would need to be “considered in light of the general prohibition on the development and production of cluster munitions.”[7]

With respect to “interoperability” and the prohibition on assistance during joint military operations with states not party, Bulgaria has stated that it “will fully observe the regulations of Article 21 of the Convention…Par. 4 of Article 21 stipulates that participation in such military operations ‘shall not authorize a State Party’ to engage in acts prohibited under the terms of the Convention and contains an exhaustive list of such acts.”[8]

In April 2014, as in previous years, Bulgaria again emphasized that it has “no intention” of retaining cluster munitions for training or research purposes.[9]

Use, production, and transfer

In 2009, a Ministry of Foreign Affairs representative said that “cluster munitions have never been used by the Bulgarian Armed Forces.”[10]

Bulgaria has declared that there “are no programmes for the conversion or decommissioning of production facilities for cluster munitions in the Republic of Bulgaria.”[11] In 2008, a Ministry of Foreign Affairs official stated that “Bulgaria does not and has not produced any type of cluster munitions.”[12]

Stockpiling and destruction

As of April 2014, Bulgaria reported a stockpile of 6,909 cluster munitions and 173,161 submunitions.[13] The stockpile is comprised of cluster munitions of Soviet Union origin, including:

·         BKF blocks containing PTAB-2.5 and AO-2.5RT submunitions used in KMG-U dispensers;

·         RBK-250 and RBK-500 air-dropped bombs containing AO-1Sch, PTAB-2.5M, AO-2.5RT, and SHAOB-0.5 submunitions; and

·         9N123K warheads for OTR-21 Tochka (NATO designation SS-21 Scarab) short-range tactical ballistic missiles.[14]

Cluster munitions stockpiled by Bulgaria (April 2014)[15]

Bulgaria initially declared a stockpile of 6,874 cluster munitions and 149,398 submunitions.[17] This number was amended to 6,909 cluster bombs and 157,664 submunitions after the discovery of additional stocks in March 2013.[18] In April 2014, Albania declared a stockpile of 6,909 cluster bombs of the same types and another 15,497 submunitions making a total of 173,161 submunitions.[19] In May 2014, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs informed the Monitor that the reason for difference with the previously recorded information was a “new method adopted by the Bulgarian Armed Forces for theoretical calculation of the submunitions.”[20]

In April 2014, Bulgaria confirmed that all stockpiled cluster munitions “have been decommissioned and separated from the munitions that are retained for operational use” and confirmed that “the entire Bulgarian stock of cluster munitions is marked for destruction.”[21]

Stockpile destruction

Under Article 3 of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, Bulgaria is required to destroy all its stockpiled cluster munitions as soon as possible, but not later than 1 October 2019.

Bulgaria has committed to destroy its stockpile “well in advance” of the deadline provided by the Convention on Cluster Munitions. In April 2014, Bulgaria affirmed its determination to meet the deadline.[22]

Bulgaria had hoped to initiate the stockpile destruction process in 2011.[23] It has engaged in an extensive process in 2012 and 2013 to prepare a national stockpile destruction plan and budget.[24] In April 2014, Bulgaria stated that the national plan was “close to being finalized” and said that physical destruction would begin after adoption of the plan.[25] In May 2014, Bulgaria informed the Monitor that the plan is “undergoing an interagency review” and promised more information after its adoption.[26]

In its initial Article 7 report, Bulgaria reported on the transfer of Slovenia’s stockpile of 1,080 155mm PAT 794 artillery projectile cluster munitions to Bulgaria for the purposes of destruction.[27]

Bulgaria has declared that it is not retaining any cluster munitions for training or research purposes as permitted under Article 3 of the convention.[28] In April and May 2014, Bulgaria reiterated its intention not to retain cluster munitions or explosive submunitions for training purposes.[29]