Commitment to the Convention on Cluster Munitions

Policy

The Republic of Iraq signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 12 November 2009 and ratified on 14 May 2013. The convention will enter into force for Iraq on 1 November 2013.

The ratification package was referred to parliament shortly after Iraq signed the convention, but was delayed by elections and other legislative priorities.[1] On 15 October 2012, the Council of Representatives (parliament) approved Law No. 89 on ratification of the convention and the law was published in the Official Gazette.[2]

Iraq deposited the instrument of ratification with the UN in New York on 14 May 2013, making Iraq the 83rd State Party to the convention. At the time, Iraq’s Permanent Mission to the UN in New York issued a statement that described the ratification as “part of efforts by Iraq to carry out its obligations to treaties and international conventions related to disarmament and support the position of Iraq to get rid of the negative effects of cluster munitions at the humanitarian, economic and social relations because of [the] former regime’s wars.”[3]

It is not known if specific legislative measures will be undertaken to implement the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

Iraq’s initial Article 7 report for the Convention on Cluster Munitions is due by 30 April 2014.

Iraq participated in some meetings of the Oslo Process that created the convention, but attended both the formal negotiations in Dublin in May 2008 and the Convention on Cluster Munitions Signing Conference in Oslo in December 2008 as an observer only.[4] In December 2008, Iraq pledged to sign the convention as soon as possible after completing national and constitutional processes.[5] It subsequently signed the convention at the UN in New York in November 2009.

Iraq has continued to engage in the work of the Convention on Cluster Munitions. Iraq has attended every Meeting of States Parties of the convention, including the Third Meeting of States Parties in Oslo, Norway in September 2012, where it made a statement affirming, “we are here to take an active part among the international community to tackle the problem of cluster munitions.”[6]

Iraq has participated in all of the convention’s intersessional meetings held in Geneva, including in April 2013 where it did not make a statement.

The Iraqi Alliance for Disability and other civil society groups have campaigned in support of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, including its ratification. On the second anniversary of the Convention’s entry into force, campaigners held a national conference attended by survivors, parliamentarians, and other government representatives.[7]

Iraq is a State Party to the Mine Ban Treaty. It is not party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons.

Use, production, transfer, and stockpiling

Iraq may have used cluster munitions in the past. According to one source, Iraq used air-dropped cluster bombs against Iranian troops in 1984.[8] In May 2011, Iraq stated that “[t]here are no facilities that produce cluster munitions in Iraq.”[9] Prior to 2003, Iraq produced two types of cluster bombs: the NAAMAN-250 and NAAMAN-500.[10] It was also involved in joint development of the M87 Orkan (known in Iraq as Ababil) with Yugoslavia.[11]

Iraq imported ASTROS cluster munition rockets from Brazil.[12] Jane’s Information Group has listed it as possessing KMG-U dispensers (which deploy submunitions) and CB-470, RBK-250, RBK-250-275, and RBK-500 cluster bombs.[13] The current status of the stockpile is not known.

Iraq has stated on several occasions that it does not stockpile cluster munitions. In a May 2012 letter, Iraq stated that it does not have a cluster munitions stockpile.[14] In May 2011, a government official stated “the Iraqi Army does not possess any stockpiles of cluster munitions at the present time.”[15]

Coalition forces used large numbers of cluster munitions in Iraq in 1991 and 2003. The United States (US), France, and the United Kingdom (UK) dropped 61,000 cluster bombs containing some 20 million submunitions on Iraq and Kuwait in 1991. The number of cluster munitions delivered by surface-launched artillery and rocket systems is not known, but an estimated 30 million or more dual purpose improved conventional munition (DPICM) submunitions were used in the conflict.[16] During the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the US and UK used nearly 13,000 cluster munitions containing an estimated 1.8 million to 2 million submunitions.[17]

In June 2011, Iraq stated that its civil defense team had destroyed 20,819 “cluster items” from 2009–2010, and the Ministry of Defense had destroyed 6,265 “cluster items” in 2010.[18]