The Kingdom of Norway hosted the negotiations for the Mine Ban Treaty in September 1997. It signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 3 December 1997 and ratified it on 9 July 1998, becoming a State Party on 1 March 1999. Legislation to enforce the antipersonnel mine prohibition domestically was passed on 16 June 1998. In 2012, Norway submitted its 14^th Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 report.

No significant production of antipersonnel mines is known to have taken place in Norway; some mine components were manufactured in the early 1990s. Mines were previously imported. Norway completed the destruction of its stockpile of 160,000 antipersonnel mines in October 1996; no mines were retained for training and development purposes.

Norway has played a crucial role in developing Mine Ban Treaty structures and processes. It served as co-rapporteur and later co-chair of the Standing Committees on the General Status and Operation of the Convention (2000–2002, 2010–2012), Victim Assistance (2003–2005), and Mine Clearance (2005–2007). Norway was president of the Second Meeting of States Parties in 2000. Norway also served as president of the Second Review Conference, also known as the Cartagena Summit on a Mine-Free World, held in Cartagena, Colombia in November–December 2009.

Norway established and coordinated the Contact Group on Resource Mobilization. At the Tenth Meeting of States Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty in November–December 2010, Norway agreed that the Contact Group be subsumed into the new Standing Committee on Resources, Cooperation and Assistance.

Norway attended the Eleventh Meeting of States Parties in Phnom Penh, Cambodia in November-December 2011, where it made statements on mine clearance, stockpile destruction, the Implementation Support Unit, and international cooperation and assistance, in particular on its assistance to Ukraine to destroy its stockpiles of PFM-1 mines.[1] At the intersessional meeting of the treaty in Geneva in May 2012, Norway called for condemnation and investigation of allegations of use of antipersonnel mines in 2012.[2]

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

Commitment to the Convention on Cluster Munitions

Policy

The Kingdom of Norway signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 3 December 2008 and ratified that same day. It was among the first 30 ratifications to trigger the convention’s entry into force on 1 August 2010.

On 20 November 2008, Norway adopted national legislation allowing it to sign and simultaneously deposit its instrument of ratification.[1] The law prohibits use, development, production, acquisition, stockpiling, or transfer of cluster munitions and provides sanctions for violations.[2] Since 2011, Norway has reported that armed forces personnel are “given appropriate education and training on the Convention” as are all Norwegians officially deployed in international operations.[3]

Norway submitted its initial Article 7 transparency report for the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 27 January 2011 and provided annual updated reports in 2012, 2013, and on 30 April 2014.[4]

Norway was an early supporter of action to deal with the harmful impact of cluster munitions and played an unparalleled leadership role in bringing about the Convention on Cluster Munitions. It initiated the Oslo Process in November 2006 after failed efforts to address cluster munitions within the framework of the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW).[5] Norway held the first international diplomatic conference of the process in Oslo in February 2007 and provided crucial support for all of the meetings through to the Convention on Cluster Munitions Signing Conference, which it also hosted in Oslo in December 2008. Norway was key to ensuring the strongest, most comprehensive convention text possible. It also promoted a prominent and influential role for the CMC and civil society, including cluster munition survivors.[6]

Norway has continued its leadership role in the work of the Convention on Cluster Munitions since 2008. It has participated in every Meeting of States Parties of the convention and hosted the Third Meeting of States Parties in Oslo in September 2012.[7] Norway has attended all of the convention’s intersessional meetings in Geneva, including in April 2014, where it announced the completion of clearance of cluster munition-contaminated Hjerkinn firing range in the third quarter of 2013.[8]

Norway’s Permanent Representative to the UN and other international organizations in Geneva, Ambassador Steffen Kongstad, served as president of the Third Meeting of States Parties until September 2013. Upon handing over the presidency to Zambia at the convention’s Fourth Meeting of States Parties, Kongstad summarized the “extraordinary” progress made under the convention, which he was centrally involved in negotiating, and stated, “Together, we have stigmatised cluster munitions to the extent that no state can be indifferent to the norms established by the Convention on Cluster Munitions. And as a result, any use of cluster munitions today is generally considered unacceptable, illegal and unbefitting of responsible members of the international community.”[9]

During Norway´s presidency of the convention, it issued a working paper to begin discussions aimed at improving the implementation of Article 4 clearance obligations, supporting efforts to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of meetings of the convention—including the convening of nine coordinating committees—, continuing consultations on the establishment of an implementation support unit, and launching an improved official website for the Convention on Cluster Munitions.[10]

At the Fourth Meeting of States Parties, Norway was appointed co-coordinator of the convention’s work on universalization together with Ghana. In a statement to the meeting, Norway stressed the need to solidify the convention’s norms and for renewed efforts to advance its universalization, emphasizing the need for states affected by cluster munitions to join as soon as possible. It reported on its efforts to initiate dialogue with non-signatories Cambodia, Serbia, Vietnam, and other contaminated states during its presidency and pledged to continue the engagement.[11]

At the UN General Assembly (UNGA) First Committee on Disarmament and International Security in October 2013, Norway described its continued focus on promoting the convention’s universalization and its norms.[12] At the convention’s intersessional meetings in April 2014, Norway and Ghana co-chaired the meeting’s session on universalization.

Norway first expressed concern at reports of cluster munition use in Syria in September 2012.[13] Minister of Foreign Affairs Espen Barth Eide issued a statement a month later that called on the Syrian authorities to “cease all use of cluster munitions with immediate effect” and “take steps to protect the civilian population by clearing contaminated areas and providing adequate information.”[14]

Norway has continued to condemn Syria’s use of cluster munitions in 2013 and the first half of 2014.[15] In September 2013, Norway described Syria’s ongoing use of cluster munitions over the past year as “the first instance of intended and sustained use of these weapons since the Convention was adopted in 2008.”[16] Norway has welcomed the expressions of concern from a large number of states in response to Syria’s cluster munition use, noting, “Such reactions underscore the global support enjoyed by the Convention on Cluster Munitions and reflect the strength of the norm that has been established, despite the unacceptable actions that have taken place in the ongoing Syrian conflict.”[17]

Norway has voted in favor of UNGA resolutions condemning the Syrian government’s cluster munition use, including Resolution 68/182 on 18 December 2013, which expressed “outrage” at Syria’s “continued widespread and systematic gross violations of human rights…including those involving the use of…cluster munitions.”[18]

Norway’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Børge Brende issued a statement in February 2014 that strongly condemned the use of cluster munitions in South Sudan.[19]

Norway has continued to place particular emphasis on the importance of ensuring cooperative partnership between affected states and other states, as well as with international organizations and civil society.[20] In September 2013, it stated that “the Convention on Cluster Munitions was borne by the focused and constructive efforts of multiple actors, working in partnership towards a shared objective: to end human suffering caused by cluster munitions. This partnership remains strong, and is a characteristic feature of the work undertaken under this Convention.”[21]

Norway remains one of the largest mine action donors and provides support to the implementation of the convention in a number of countries, including projects related to victim assistance, clearance, and stockpile destruction. With the support of the Royal Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the NGO Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA) has continued to clear cluster munition remnants, provide technical support on stockpile destruction, and play a leadership role in the CMC, promoting the Convention on Cluster Munitions in Norway and internationally.[22]

Interpretive issues

Norway has provided its views on certain important issues related to interpretation and implementation of the convention, through statements and its national implementation legislation.

According to Norway’s implementation legislation, the convention’s prohibitions, including the prohibition on assistance, apply in all circumstances, even during joint military operations. The preparatory section of the implementation legislation states that “the exemption for military cooperation does not authorize states parties to engage in activities prohibited by the convention.”[23]

At the Third Meeting of States Parties in September 2012, Norway stated:

“Article 1(1) states the absolute prohibition on any use of all cluster munitions, linked to the unambiguous phrase ‘never under any circumstances.’ This prohibition applies to all kinds of conflicts as well as situations falling below the threshold of armed conflict. The prohibition against use, production, etc., cannot be bypassed or circumvented by creative interpretations of other articles in the Convention. Article 21(4) of the Convention specifies that nothing in the Convention shall authorise a State Party to inter alia use cluster munitions. Article 9 requires that what is prohibited to States Parties must also be prohibited for all individuals.”[24]

During the Oslo Process, Norway argued against the inclusion of language on “interoperability” (joint military operations with states not party), stating that it had yet to see any insurmountable difficulties with interoperability in the context of other legal instruments, including the Mine Ban Treaty. As a NATO member, Norway stated that the issue merited discussion, but it was unfounded to automatically assume that a future treaty would be an obstacle to joint military action. Norway noted that it had solved issues regarding criminal liability for its service personnel in its national legislation, which contained “penal provisions regulating issues such as command responsibility, effective control and individual culpability, in relation to international operations.”[25]

Norway’s national implementation legislation bans the transit of cluster munitions under its prohibition on assistance.[26] With regard to the issue of foreign stockpiling of cluster munitions on the national territory of a State Party, Norway made its view clear in 2012 that “it would be contrary to the prohibition on assistance etc. in Article 1 c to allow another state to stockpile cluster munitions on its territory.”[27]

The US stockpiled cluster munitions in Norway until 2010. According to a Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs official, “After the adoption of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, Norway discussed with the USA the issue of their stockpile of cluster munitions on Norwegian territory. Norway offered to destroy these cluster munitions together with our own stockpiles. However, the USA decided to remove their stocks, something which happened during the spring of 2010.”[28]

In 2004, the Ministry of Finance decided to include cluster munitions in a category of indiscriminate or inhumane weapons, which are to be excluded from investment under the Norwegian Government Pension Fund’s ethical guidelines. In 2005, eight foreign companies involved in the production of cluster munitions were excluded from the fund’s investments. Additional companies were excluded in 2006 and 2008.[29] A 2012 report by NGOs IKV Pax Christi (now PAX) and FairFin highlighted four Norwegian financial institutions for their policies prohibiting investments in cluster munitions producers: the Norwegian Government Pension Fund-Global, DNB, Storebrand Group, and the KLP.[30]

Norway is a State Party of the Mine Ban Treaty. It is also party to the CCW.

Use, production, and transfer

Norway has not used, produced, or exported cluster munitions. In the past, it imported cluster munitions. It obtained Rockeye cluster bombs from the US, but destroyed them sometime between 2001 and 2003.[31] Norway obtained 155mm artillery projectiles with dual purpose improved conventional munition (DPICM) submunitions from Germany.[32]

Stockpile destruction

On 16 July 2010, Norway completed the destruction of its remaining stockpile of 52,190 155mm DPICM artillery projectiles containing 3,087,910 submunitions.[33] The destruction was carried out by the Norwegian Armed Forces and Nammo Demil Division in 2009 and 2010.[34] The cluster munitions were destroyed 910m below ground in an old copper mine at Løkken Verk in Trøndelag, south of the city of Trondheim.[35]

In November 2003, Norway stated that on the basis of a 2001 parliamentary resolution, “All air-delivered cluster bombs previously in Norwegian stock have been destroyed, because of their low level of precision and high dud-rate.”[36] According to NPA, Norway had 745 Rockeye bombs, each with 247 bomblets.[37]

Norway has not retained any cluster munitions or submunitions for training or other permitted purposes.[38]

In 2009, Norway announced its decision not to retain any cluster munitions for training or research purposes and urged all states to make the same decision.[39] In 2013, as in past years, Norway reiterated its view that it is unnecessary to retain live submunitions for training and research purposes.[40] In June 2011, Norway described the arguments in favor of retaining cluster munitions as “flawed.”[41] Norway has stated that retention of large numbers of cluster munitions could be seen as undermining the categorical approach of the prohibitions of the convention.[42]

Contamination and Impact

The Kingdom of Norway is not considered to be an area affected by mines or unexploded ordnance (UXO). From time to time mines and explosives from World War II are discovered, some as recently as July 2014,[1] but they are not considered to represent a great danger to civilians.

Cluster munition remnants

Norway was contaminated with cluster munition remnants and other UXO. In its initial Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 7 report, Norway declared that the Hjerkinn “Shooting Range” at HFK-sletta in Dovre municipality, central Norway[2] contained an estimated 30 unexploded DM 1383/DM 1385 submunitions over an area of 617,300m², as a result of test-firing[3] between 1986 and 2007.[4]

In April 2014, Norway reported that all areas contaminated by cluster munitions had been cleared, and while UXO contamination in other parts of the Hjerkinn former test range remained, “we have no reason to suspect contamination by CMRs [cluster munition remnants] in those areas.”[5]

Land Release

Norway reported the release of 84,500m² of cluster munition-contaminated area[6] through clearance operations in the “third quarter of 2013.”[7]

Clearance in 2013

In 2013, Norway reported clearance of 84,500m² at the Hjerkinn “Shooting Range,” under the responsibility of the Ministry of Defence, destroying one unexploded submunition and three UXO in the process.

In 2013, Norway’s clearance capacity consisted of one explosive ordnance team of two personnel and one mine detection dog unit with six dogs and three personnel.[8]

Compliance with Article 4 of the Convention on Cluster Munitions

Under Article 4 of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, Norway is required to complete clearance of all areas affected by cluster munition remnants under its jurisdiction or control by 1 August 2020.

At the convention’s Working Group on Clearance and Risk Reduction in Geneva in April 2014, Norway stated that it had completed clearance of cluster munition remnants in 2013—more than six years before its Article 4 deadline—and noted that it would make a formal declaration of completion at the Fifth Meeting of States Parties in Costa Rica in September 2014.[9]

In 2012, the Kingdom of Norway contributed NOK281,519,998 (US$48,386,930) in mine action funding to 28 mine-affected states, two areas, and several NGOs and institutions for global activities.[1] This represented the fourth largest contribution in 2012 after the United States, European Union, and Japan. Almost one-third of the contribution went to NGOs and institutions for global activities along with the ICRC. The ICRC received NOK25.5 million ($4.3 million).

Norway contributed 17% of its support to institutions and NGOs for advocacy activities such as for the universalization of the Mine Ban Treaty and the Convention on Cluster Munitions and support to the ICRC.

Contributions by recipient: 2012[2]

Norway is one of the largest donors that supports victim assistance through traditional mine action funding sources. In 2012, Norway contributed NOK24.29 million ($4.17 million) to victim assistance, including NOK10 million ($1,718,774) to the ICRC.

At the intersessional Meetings for the Convention on Cluster Munitions in April 2013 in Geneva, Norway cautioned about evaluating victim assistance support solely as a horse race involving financial contributions:

“Taking a rights based, non-discriminatory and inclusive approach to victim assistance – which we as the mine action community have agreed in principle for many years – must have as its consequence that we at some point stop discussing assistance to victims of specific weapons in separate fora depending on which weapon caused the injury, and rather spend more time and resources making sure that the victims of mines, cluster munitions and other explosive remnants of war are included in other influential for a which might have a more direct bearing on the situation of victims than our own plenary discussions. In addition, we must conclude that funding projects dedicated to or earmarked for assisting victims of weapons might be contradictory to the principle of non-discrimination. It is therefore my prediction that in the coming years we will see a downward trend in funds identified as dedicated to assisting victims of landmines, cluster munitions and other explosive remnants of war – but that more and more states, including donors such as Norway, will strive to ensure that their development cooperation will strive to ensure that their development cooperation is inclusive of all persons with disabilities.”[3]

Contributions by thematic sector: 2012

Summary of Contributions: 2008–2012[4]