The Republic of Slovenia signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 3 December 1997 and ratified it on 27 October 1998, becoming a State Party on 1 April 1999. Slovenia never produced, imported, or exported antipersonnel mines. It inherited its stockpile of antipersonnel mines from the former Yugoslavia. Legislation to enforce the antipersonnel mine prohibition domestically was passed in December 1998 and April 1999. On 20 May 2012, Slovenia submitted its 13^th Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 report.

Slovenia completed the destruction of its stockpile of 168,898 antipersonnel mines on 25 March 2003, just ahead of its 1 April 2003 treaty-mandated destruction deadline. Slovenia initially announced it would retain 7,000 antipersonnel mines for training and research purposes, but later reduced the quantity to 3,000; as of April 2011, Slovenia had reduced the number of mines retained to 2,978.[1] There is an apparent discrepancy in Slovenia’s Article 7 report submitted in 2012, which indicates that Slovenia retains 2,982 mines for training, an increase of four mines.[2] Slovenia reported that it consumed three PMR-2A mines and three PROM-1 for training during calendar year 2011.[3] However, Form D of the Article 7 report indicates that Slovenia increased the number of PROM-1 mines it retains by seven.[4]

Slovenia served as co-rapporteur and then co-chair of the Standing Committee on Mine Clearance (2004–2006) and the General Status and Operation of the Convention (2008–2010).

Slovenia attended the Eleventh Meeting of States Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty in November–December 2011 in Phnom Penh, where Slovenia was designated as the president of the Twelfth Meeting of States Parties. In May 2012, Slovenia attended the intersessional Standing Committee meetings in Geneva.

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

Mine clearance in Slovenia was completed in the early 1990s; there are now no known mined areas in Slovenia. Slovenia is contaminated by unexploded ordnance from World War I, World War II, and the independence war of 1991.

Commitment to the Convention on Cluster Munitions

Policy

The Republic of Slovenia signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 3 December 2008 and ratified on 19 August 2009. It was among the first 30 ratifications to trigger the convention’s entry into force on 1 August 2010.

Under national implementation measures, Slovenia has declared its ratification legislation and relevant sections of the Criminal Code.[1] Slovenian officials have said that according to the country’s constitution, international treaties are implemented directly.[2]

Slovenia submitted its initial Article 7 transparency report for the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 26 January 2011 and provided annual updated reports in 2012, 2013, and on 31 March 2014.[3]

Slovenia actively engaged in the Oslo Process that led to the creation of the convention and enacted legislative measures on cluster munitions prior to the conclusion of the process. In July 2007, it adopted a declaration calling on the government to support all international efforts to conclude an international instrument prohibiting cluster munitions and to consider national measures, including appropriate legislation to ban cluster munitions.[4]

Slovenia has continued to engage in the work of the Convention on Cluster Munitions since 2008. It has attended every Meeting of States Parties of the convention, except the Fourth Meeting of States Parties in Lusaka, Zambia in September 2013. Slovenia has participated in all of the convention’s intersessional meetings in Geneva, including in April 2014.

At the UN General Assembly (UNGA) First Committee on Disarmament and International Security in October 2013, Slovenia welcomed the “many positive developments” regarding implementation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions and called for further efforts to ensure that all nations to help the “way forward towards the world free of cluster munitions.”[5]

Slovenia has expressed its concern at reports of use of cluster munitions in Syria and emphasized the importance and urgency of continued efforts to universalize the convention. Slovenia also 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.”[6]

Interpretive issues

Slovenia has articulated its views on several important issues related to interpretation and implementation of the convention, including the prohibition on assistance with prohibited acts in joint military operations, the prohibition on transit and foreign stockpiling, the prohibition on investment in cluster munition production, and the retention of cluster munitions for training and research purposes.

In 2011, Slovenia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs reconfirmed Slovenia’s position on the prohibition on assistance with prohibited acts in joint military operations under the convention, stressing that “Slovenia will not participate in any joint military operation with non-States Parties [sic] to the Convention involving the use of cluster munitions.”[7] The minister also reaffirmed Slovenia’s view that transit and foreign stockpiling of cluster munitions are expressly prohibited under the convention and that it considers such activities “illegal on the territory of the Republic of Slovenia.”[8]

In 2012, Slovenia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs informed the Monitor that Slovenia “has no intention of allowing investment in cluster munition production.”[9] In April 2013, meeting with CMC member organization PAX (formerly IKV Pax Christi), a government representative elaborated on Slovenia’s stance concerning the prohibition on investment in cluster munition production. In Slovenia’s view, the Convention on Cluster Munitions prohibits investment and financing of cluster munitions under Article 1(1)(c), and as such, the government will not permit investment or financing of cluster munition production on Slovenian territory. The representative stated that this would also apply to Slovenian companies with headquarters outside of Slovenia and to Slovenian nationals with permanent residence abroad.[10]

Slovenia has declared that it is not retaining any cluster munitions for training or research purposes permitted under Article 3 of the convention.[11]

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

Use, production, and transfer

Slovenia has declared that it has not produced cluster munitions.[12] Slovenia is not known to have used or exported cluster munitions.

Stockpile destruction

On 29 July 2011, Slovenia destroyed its entire stockpile of cluster munitions consisting of 1,080 155mm howitzer PAT-794 CARGO Long-Range/Base Bleed (LR/BB) projectiles.[13] The origin of the PAT-794 projectile is unclear.[14] In its Article 7 reports, Slovenia did not report the possession of any explosive submunitions.[15] The stockpile destruction was carried out by the company MAXAM Bulgaria AD in the Bulgarian town of Gabrovo.[16]

Slovenia has declared that it is not retaining any cluster munitions for research or training purposes permitted by Article 3 of the Convention of Cluster Munitions.[17]

In 2012, the Republic of Slovenia contributed US$557,702 in mine action funding, to five countries and two other areas. All of Slovenia’s support for mine action in 2012 was contributed through the International Trust Fund Enhancing Human Security. The largest contribution (some $355,000) was a global one to support the work of the ITF while the remaining $202,000 went to victim assistance programs in Azerbaijan, Belarus, Egypt, Iraq, Kosovo, Macedonia and the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT).[1]

Contributions by recipient: 2012

In 2012 Slovenia reduced its support to mine action, all through the ITF, by 26%, or about $200,000.

Summary of contributions: 2008–2012[2]