Commitment to the Convention on Cluster Munitions

Policy

Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 3 December 2008, ratified on 7 September 2010, and the convention entered into force for the country on 1 March 2011.

BiH has declared its ratification law under national implementation measures for the Convention on Cluster Munitions.[1] In September 2013, a government representative informed States Parties that “all the necessary legislation is in place.”[2] Previously, officials indicated that BiH was considering national legislation to enforce the ban convention.[3]

BiH submitted its initial Article 7 report for the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 20 August 2011 and provided annual updated reports in 2012, 2013, and on 13 June 2014.[4]

BiH actively participated throughout the Oslo Process that created the Convention on Cluster Munitions, making strong contributions based on its experience as a country affected by cluster munitions and declaring a national moratorium on cluster munition use prior to the conclusion of the process.[5]

BiH has continued to actively engage in the work of the Convention on Cluster Munitions since 2008. It has participated in the every Meeting of States Parties of the convention, including the Fourth Meeting of States Parties in Lusaka, Zambia in September 2013 where it made statements on clearance and victim assistance. BiH has attended all of the convention’s intersessional meetings in Geneva, including in April 2014. BiH participated in a regional workshop on implementation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions held in Zadar, Croatia in April 2014.[6] BiH served as the convention’s coordinator on victim assistance in 2012 and 2013 together with Afghanistan.

BiH 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 those involving the use of…cluster munitions.”[7]

Interpretive issues

In July 2011, the director of the department of conventional weapons of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed the ministry’s views on a number of issues important for the interpretation and implementation of the convention. On the prohibition on assistance with prohibited acts during joint military operations or “interoperability,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that “under the same Article 21, para 3, we may engage in joint military operations with non-states Parties that might engage in activities prohibited by the Convention, however our personnel or nationals should not provide assistance with activities prohibited by the Convention.”[8]

According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the “transit of cluster munitions across, or foreign stockpiling of cluster munitions on, the national territory of States Parties is prohibited by the Convention.”[9] The ministry, however, noted that it does not have “access to or information on weapon types” stockpiled in European Union Force (EUFOR) military bases “on our territory.”[10] In May 2013, a Ministry of Defense official said the ministry has not inquired about the status of any foreign cluster munitions stored on EUFOR military bases in BiH.[11]

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has also stated that it considers “investment in the production of cluster munitions to be prohibited.”[12]

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

Use, production, and transfer

Yugoslav forces and non-state armed groups used available stocks of cluster munitions during the 1992–1995 war. The various entity armies inherited cluster munitions during the break-up of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

In its initial Article 7 report, BiH declared, “There are no production facilities for CM [Cluster Munitions] in Bosnia and Herzegovina.”[13]

BiH has acknowledged that it produced cluster munitions for a period of 11 years and stated in 2007 that production had ceased.[14] BiH produced KB-1 and KB-2 submunitions for the Orkan multi-barrel rocket system, artillery projectiles, and mortar bombs.[15] The production capacity included the ability to manufacture KB-series submunitions and integrate them into carrier munitions such as artillery projectiles and rockets.[16] According to Jane’s Information Group, the Ministry of Defense has produced the 262mm M-87 Orkan rocket, with each rocket containing 288 KB-1 dual-purpose submunitions.[17] Jane’s also lists BiH Armed Forces as possessing KPT-150 dispensers (which deploy submunitions) for aircraft.[18]

Stockpile destruction

BiH once possessed a stockpile of 445 cluster munitions and 148,059 submunitions.[19] This includes four M-93 120mm mortar projectiles containing 92 submunitions that were discovered after the 2011 completion of stockpile destruction.[20]

Cluster munitions formerly stockpiled by BiH[21]

Under Article 3 of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, BiH is required to destroy all stockpiled cluster munitions under its jurisdiction and control as soon as possible, but not later than 1 March 2019.

In September 2012, BiH announced that “We have fulfilled all obligations relating to Article 3” of the Convention on Cluster Munitions “by destroying all known and reported stocks of cluster munitions in 2011.”[22]

Almost all of the BiH stockpile of cluster munitions was destroyed in 2011, a total of 441 cluster munitions and 147,967 submunitions. From August to December 2011, three types of stockpiled cluster munitions and their submunitions were destroyed: 52 M-93 120mm mortar bombs, 56 M-87 262mm rockets, and 321 BL-755 bombs.[23] From 20 May to 30 June 2011, BiH destroyed 12 M-87 Orkan 262mm rockets and 74,721 KB-1 submunitions.[24] BiH reported destroying the stocks of 16,128 KB1 submunitions from the 56 M-87 Orkan 262mm rockets in 2012.[25]

In April 2012, BiH informed States Parties that four M-93 120mm mortar bombs containing 92 submunitions discovered after the 2011 stockpile destruction would be “destroyed accordingly.”[26] In April 2014, the Ministry of Defense informed Landmine Survivors Initiatives that the four bombs and their submunitions were destroyed by open detonation by the Ministry of Defense, thus completing any remaining stockpile destruction obligations.[27] However, BiH did not declare destruction of the munitions in its 2014 Article 7 report, which covers activities in calendar year 2013.[28]

In its November 2013 Article 7 report and again in the report provided June 2014, BiH declared the discovery of 341 KB-1 submunitions in Pretis, Vogosca and four KB-2 submunitions in Krupa, Hadzici.[29] In April 2014, the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations stated the munitions are under its jurisdiction and would be destroyed.[30]

In June 2014, local media reported the discovery of a cache of 114 KB-2 submunitions behind a family home near Sarajevo.[31]

Retention

BiH initially declared that it would not retain any cluster munitions for research or training purposes as permitted by Article 3 of the Convention on Cluster Munitions.[32] In its June 2014 Article 7 report, BiH listed 20 KB-1 submunitions as retained by Norwegian People’s Aid for mine detection dog training purposes.[33] According to NPA, it is retaining 30, not 20, KB1 submunitions, which have been made fuze-less, for training of mine detection dogs.[34]