Burkina Faso

Last Updated: 27 October 2011

Mine Ban Policy

Burkina Faso signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 3 December 1997 and ratified it on 16 September 1998, becoming a State Party on 1 March 1999. Burkina Faso has never used, produced, imported, exported, or stockpiled antipersonnel mines, including for training purposes. Burkina Faso was the 40th country to ratify the treaty, triggering its entry into force six months later. Legislation to enforce the antipersonnel mine prohibition domestically was enacted in 2001. Burkina Faso submitted its ninth Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 report on 31 March 2008, but has not submitted subsequent annual reports.

Burkina Faso is party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) and its Amended Protocol II on landmines, but not CCW Protocol V on explosive remnants of war.

Burkina Faso attended the Tenth Meeting of States Parties in Geneva in November–December 2010 and the Mine Ban Treaty intersessional Standing Committee meetings in Geneva in June 2011.

 


Last Updated: 12 August 2014

Cluster Munition Ban Policy

Policy

Burkina Faso signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 3 December 2008 and ratified on 16 February 2010. It was among the first 30 ratifications to trigger the convention’s entry into force on 1 August 2010.

In September 2013, Burkina Faso reported that draft legislation to implement the convention was being prepared with the assistance of the Ministry of National Defense and the National Commission to Combat the Proliferation of Small Arms (Commission Nationale de Lutte contre la Prolifération des Armes Légères).[1] Burkina Faso has provided regular updates on the legislative process since it first reported in 2011 that implementing legislation would be needed.[2]

Burkina Faso submitted its initial Article 7 transparency report for the Convention on Cluster Munitions in January 2011 and an annual updated report in May 2013.[3] As of 27 June 2014, it had yet to submit the annual update due by 30 April 2014.

Burkina Faso participated in the Oslo Process that created the Convention on Cluster Munitions, including the negotiations in Dublin in May 2008.[4]

It has continued to engage in the work of the Convention on Cluster Munitions. Burkina Faso has participated in every Meeting of States Parties of the convention, including the Fourth Meeting of States Parties in Lusaka, Zambia in September 2013. Burkina Faso attended the convention’s intersessional meetings in Geneva once, in April 2013. Burkina Faso also participated in a regional seminar on the convention in Lomé, Togo in May 2013.

Burkina Faso has voted in favor of recent UN General Assembly (UNGA) resolutions condemning the Syrian government’s use of cluster munitions, including Resolution 68/182 on 18 December 2013, which expressed “outrage” at Syria’s “continued widespread and systematic gross violations of human rights” including the use of cluster munitions.[5]

Interpretive issues

Burkina Faso has expressed its position on one of several important issues for the interpretation and implementation of the convention. In 2009, the Minister of Foreign Affairs stated that Burkina Faso considers that the transit of cluster munitions by states not party through the territory of States Parties is prohibited.[6] Burkina Faso has not yet stated its views on other issues, such as the prohibition on assistance with prohibited acts during joint military operations with states not party, the prohibition on foreign stockpiling, and the prohibition on investment in cluster munition production.

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

Use, production, transfer, and stockpiling

Burkina Faso has stated that it has never used, produced, or stockpiled cluster munitions.[7] Burkina Faso has reported that it has no cluster munitions, including for training or research purposes.[8]

 



[1] Statement of Burkina Faso, Convention on Cluster Munitions Third Meeting of States Parties, Oslo, 12 September 2012. In May 2013, Burkina Faso reported on progress to draft the legislation in cooperation with ICRC representatives in Ouagadougou. Statement of Burkina Faso, Lomé Regional Seminar on the Universalization of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, Lomé, Togo, 23 May 2013. Notes by Action on Armed Violence (AOAV).

[2] Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 7 Report, Forms A and H, 26 January 2011; and statement of Burkina Faso, Convention on Cluster Munitions Third Meeting of States Parties, Oslo, 12 September 2012.

[3] The initial Article 7 report lists the reporting period as calendar year 2011, but it was likely for calendar year 2010 as Article 7 reports are supposed to cover a previous period and not future activities. The annual updated report dated 13 May 2013 is for the reporting period from 1 January 2012 to 31 December 2013, but most likely was meant to refer to calendar year 2012.

[4] For details on Burkina Faso’s cluster munition policy and practice through early 2009, see Human Rights Watch and Landmine Action, Banning Cluster Munitions: Government Policy and Practice (Ottawa: Mines Action Canada, May 2009), pp. 48–49.

[5]Situation of human rights in the Syrian Arab Republic,” UNGA Resolution A/RES/68/182, 18 December 2013. Burkina Faso voted in favor of a similar resolution on 15 May 2013.

[6] Letter No. 2009-001228/MAE-CR/SG/DGAJC from Minata Samate, Acting Minister of State, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Cooperation, 24 March 2009.

[7] Statement by Amb. Monique Ilboudo, Convention on Cluster Munitions Signing Conference, Oslo, 3 December 2008.

[8] Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 7 Report, Forms B and C, 26 January 2011.