Commitment to the Convention on Cluster Munitions

Policy

The Republic of Côte d’Ivoire signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 4 December 2008, ratified on 12 March 2012, and the convention entered into force for the country on 1 September 2012.

In September 2013, Côte d’Ivoire informed States Parties of the government’s intent to form a commission to ensure the adoption of national legislation to enforce the provisions of the Convention on Cluster Munitions.[1] Previously, in May 2013, Côte d’Ivoire stated the National Assembly was taking measures to update the country’s laws to ensure compliance with international treaties, including the ban convention.[2] Côte d’Ivoire has declared two laws under national implementation measures that regulate weapons, firearms, ammunition, and explosive substances.[3]

Côte d’Ivoire submitted an initial Article 7 transparency report for the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 29 April 2013 and provided an annual updated report on 30 April 2014.[4]

Côte d’Ivoire participated in several meetings of the Oslo Process that created the Convention on Cluster Munitions, including the formal negotiations in Dublin in May 2008.[5]

Côte d’Ivoire has continued to engage in the Convention on Cluster Munitions. It attended the convention’s Second Meeting of States Parties in Beirut, Lebanon in September 2011 and its Fourth Meeting of States Parties in Lusaka, Zambia in September 2013. Côte d’Ivoire participated in intersessional meetings of the convention in Geneva in 2011, 2013, and April 2014. It also attended a regional meeting on the convention in Lomé, Togo in May 2013.

In September 2013, Côte d’Ivoire expressed its desire to be at the forefront of efforts to universalize the convention in west Africa and pledged to promote the convention in its role as president of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).[6]

Côte d’Ivoire 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]

Côte d’Ivoire has yet to provide its views on certain important issues related to interpretation and implementation of the convention, including the prohibition on transit, the prohibition on assistance during joint military operations with states not party that may use cluster munitions, the prohibition on foreign stockpiling of cluster munitions, the prohibition on investment in production of cluster munitions, and the retention of cluster munitions and submunitions for training and development purposes.

Côte d’Ivoire is a State Party to the Mine Ban Treaty. It is not party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons.

Use, production, and transfer

Côte d’Ivoire has stated that it has never used, produced, or transferred cluster munitions.[8] It confirmed that the country is not a producer of cluster munitions in its 2013 and 2014 Article 7 reports.[9]

Stockpiling and destruction

Côte d’Ivoire once possessed a stockpile of 68 RBK-250-275 cluster bombs containing a total of 10,200 AO-1SCh submunitions.[10] The cluster munitions were acquired between 2003 and 2005, years before the Convention on Cluster Munitions was adopted.[11]

Article 3 of the Convention on Cluster Munitions required that Côte d’Ivoire declare and destroy all stockpiled cluster munitions under its jurisdiction and control as soon as possible, but no later than 1 September 2020.

Côte d’Ivoire declared in April 2013 that the entire stockpile was destroyed between 28 January 2013 and 6 February 2013, with the assistance of the UN Mine Action Service (UNMAS).[12] The destruction was carried out at Lomo Nord, approximately 250 kilometers northwest of the capital of Abidjan. Côte d’Ivoire reported that national public health and environmental standards were observed in the destruction process.[13]

It has also stated that no additional stockpiles of cluster munitions have been discovered following the completion of its stockpile destruction.[14] It has confirmed that it is not retaining any cluster munitions for training or research purposes.[15] In May 2013, Côte d’Ivoire asserted that it was not retaining cluster munitions as “we don’t want to have these types of arms in our arsenal.”[16]