Policy

Burkina Faso signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 3 December 2008 and ratified on 16 February 2010. It was among the first 30 ratifications to trigger the convention’s entry into force on 1 August 2010.

In September 2013, Burkina Faso reported that draft legislation to implement the convention was being prepared with the assistance of the Ministry of National Defense and the National Commission to Combat the Proliferation of Small Arms (Commission Nationale de Lutte contre la Prolifération des Armes Légères).[1] Burkina Faso has provided regular updates on the legislative process since it first reported in 2011 that implementing legislation would be needed.[2]

Burkina Faso submitted its initial Article 7 transparency report for the Convention on Cluster Munitions in January 2011 and an annual updated report in May 2013.[3] As of 27 June 2014, it had yet to submit the annual update due by 30 April 2014.

Burkina Faso participated in the Oslo Process that created the Convention on Cluster Munitions, including the negotiations in Dublin in May 2008.[4]

It has continued to engage in the work of the Convention on Cluster Munitions. Burkina Faso has participated in every Meeting of States Parties of the convention, including the Fourth Meeting of States Parties in Lusaka, Zambia in September 2013. Burkina Faso attended the convention’s intersessional meetings in Geneva once, in April 2013. Burkina Faso also participated in a regional seminar on the convention in Lomé, Togo in May 2013.

Burkina Faso 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 the use of cluster munitions.[5]

Interpretive issues

Burkina Faso has expressed its position on one of several important issues for the interpretation and implementation of the convention. In 2009, the Minister of Foreign Affairs stated that Burkina Faso considers that the transit of cluster munitions by states not party through the territory of States Parties is prohibited.[6] Burkina Faso has not yet stated its views on other issues, such as the prohibition on assistance with prohibited acts during joint military operations with states not party, the prohibition on foreign stockpiling, and the prohibition on investment in cluster munition production.

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

Use, production, transfer, and stockpiling

Burkina Faso has stated that it has never used, produced, or stockpiled cluster munitions.[7] Burkina Faso has reported that it has no cluster munitions, including for training or research purposes.[8]