Uganda

Last Updated: 29 August 2013

Cluster Munition Ban Policy

Commitment to the Convention on Cluster Munitions

Convention on Cluster Munitions status

Signatory

Participation in Convention on Cluster Munitions meetings

Attended Third Meeting of States Parties in Oslo, Norway in September 2012, intersessional meetings in Geneva in April 2013, and a regional meeting in Lomé, Togo in May 2013

Key developments

Ratification process underway

Policy

The Republic of Uganda signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 3 December 2008.

In May 2013, Uganda informed a regional meeting that draft ratification legislation is being considered by the Solicitor General’s office “to clear any legal interpretations” and will then be submitted to Cabinet for approval. According to the official there have been “wide national consultations” on the ban convention and “clear indications that there is a need for ratification.”[1]

Ugandan officials have provided regular updates on the status of ratification since 2010.[2]

Uganda has stated that national implementation legislation for the Convention on Cluster Munitions is being prepared for consideration after ratification.[3]

Uganda participated extensively in the Oslo Process that produced the Convention on Cluster Munitions and hosted a regional meeting on cluster munitions in Kampala in September 2008. It has continued to actively engage in the work of the convention. Uganda attended the convention’s Third Meeting of States Parties in Oslo, Norway in September 2012, where it made a statement during the general exchange of views. Uganda participated in intersessional meetings of the convention in Geneva in April 2013 but did not make any statements. Uganda attended a regional meeting of the convention in Lomé, Togo in May 2013 where it provided an update on ratification.

To celebrate the second anniversary of the entry into force of the Convention on Cluster Munitions Day of Action on 1 August 2012, the Uganda Landmine Survivors Association organized a march through Kampala with survivors, disability and civil society organizations, and government officials.[4]

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

Use, production, transfer, and stockpiling

In April 2012, a government official informed an intersessional meeting of the convention that “Uganda has never manufactured, acquired, stockpiled, transferred or used cluster munitions.”[5] In September 2011, Uganda stated that it has never used, produced, transferred, or acquired cluster munitions.[6] In June 2009, a senior official said that Uganda does not have any stockpiled cluster munitions.[7]

Cluster munitions were apparently used in the fighting in northern Uganda between the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) and the Uganda People’s Defence Forces, but it is not clear who used the cluster munitions or precisely when or how many munitions were used. On several occasions, Uganda has denied that its armed forces used cluster munitions and said the LRA was responsible.[8] The Uganda Mine Action Centre (UMAC) has informed the Monitor that no unexploded submunitions remain.[9]

 



[1] Statement of Uganda, Lomé Regional Seminar on the Universalization of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, Lomé, Togo, 22 May 2013, www.clusterconvention.org/files/2013/05/NIM_Ugnada.pdf.

[2] See for example: Statement of Uganda, Accra Regional Conference on the Universalization of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, Accra, 28 May 2012, www.clusterconvention.org/files/2012/06/Session-II_Statement-Uganda.pdf; statement of Uganda, Convention on Cluster Munitions Second Meeting of States Parties, Beirut, 13 September 2011, www.clusterconvention.org/files/2011/09/statement_uganda.pdf; and statement of Uganda, Convention on Cluster Munitions First Meeting of States Parties, Vientiane, 9 November 2010.

[3] Statement of Uganda, Convention on Cluster Munitions Second Meeting of States Parties, Beirut, 13 September 2011, www.clusterconvention.org/files/2011/09/statement_uganda.pdf; and statement of Uganda, Lomé Regional Seminar on the Universalization of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, Lomé, Togo, 22 May 2013, www.clusterconvention.org/files/2013/05/NIM_Ugnada.pdf.

[5] Statement of Uganda, Convention on Cluster Munitions Intersessional Meetings, Geneva, 18 April 2012, www.clusterconvention.org/files/2012/04/Uganda_StockpileDestruction.pdf. Human Rights Watch and the CMC listed Uganda as a stockpiler of cluster munitions, based on statements by government officials and on the clearance of cluster munition remnants and explosive submunitions. See for example: Statement by Amb. Cissy Taliwaku, Deputy Head of Mission, Permanent Mission of Uganda to the UN in Geneva, to the Belgrade Conference for States Affected by Cluster Munitions, 4 October 2007. Notes by the CMC.

[6] Statement of Uganda, Convention on Cluster Munitions Second Meeting of States Parties, Beirut, 13 September 2011, www.clusterconvention.org/files/2011/09/statement_uganda.pdf.

[7] Presentation by Maj.-Gen. J. F. Oketta, Office of the Prime Minister, Berlin Conference on the Destruction of Cluster Munitions, 25 June 2009, slides 2 and 22.

[8] Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 Report (for the period 2 April 2008 to 2 April 2009), Form J; “UGANDA: Landmine survivors welcome ban on cluster Bombs,” IRIN (Gulu), 4 June 2008, www.irinnews.org/report/78563/uganda-landmine-survivors-welcome-ban-on-cluster-bombs; Paul Amoru, “Cluster bombs conference on,” Daily Monitor, 29 September 2008, www.monitor.co.ug/News/Education/-/688336/752118/-/10g6t20/-/index.html; and interview with Maj.-Gen. J. F. Oketta, Office of the Prime Minister, in Berlin, 25 June 2009.

[9] Response to Monitor questionnaire by Vicent Woboya, Director, UMAC, 1 April 2010.