Policy

The Republic of Cuba has not acceded to the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

Cuba has never expressed support for the convention or given any indications that it is considering acceding.

In December 2013, a government representative told a regional workshop on the Convention on Cluster Munitions that Cuba has concerns with the way in which the treaty was negotiated outside of UN auspices, asked if the convention’s definition of cluster munitions prohibits all types of cluster munitions, and said the lack of consensus during the negotiations for the “interoperability” provisions in Article 21 of the convention on “Relations with States not party to this Convention” shows the “weakness” of the final text.[1]

At the workshop, Cuba said that it still does not have “a definitive position” on accession to the Convention on Cluster Munitions. Cuba is party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) and while the representative again affirmed Cuba’s position “for a total prohibition” on cluster munitions, he emphasized that a ban must be adopted through the creation of a new CCW protocol. At the CCW review conference in November 2011, efforts to conclude a new protocol on cluster munitions failed.[2]

Cuba did not participate in the Oslo Process that created the Convention on Cluster Munitions. It participated as an observer in the convention’s First Meeting of States Parties in Vientiane, Lao PDR in November 2010 and the Second Meeting of States Parties in Beirut in September 2011, but did not make any statements.

Cuba did not attend any meetings of the convention in 2012, but in December 2013 participated in a regional workshop on cluster munitions in Santiago, Chile, where it endorsed a declaration committing to join efforts that permit the early establishment of a cluster munitions-free zone in Latin America and the Caribbean.[3]

Cuba has not condemned Syria’s use of cluster munitions.

Cuba is not party to the Mine Ban Treaty.

Use, production, transfer, and stockpiling

Cuba is not known to have used, produced, or exported cluster munitions. It has a stockpile of cluster munitions of Russian origin. Jane’s Information Group lists Cuba as possessing KMG-U dispensers that deploy submunitions, and RBK-250, RBK-275, and RBK-500 cluster bombs.[4]

At the regional meeting held in December 2013, Cuba expressed concern at what it described as an “allegation” that it possesses a stockpile of cluster munitions, asked for the source of information concerning the stockpile and how it was verified, and said that Cuba has never confirmed or denied this information or made a declaration about its stockpile on cluster munitions.[5]

Cluster Munition Monitor stands by its finding that Cuba has stockpiled cluster munitions, which has been reported since the first Monitor report on the subject was issued in 2009.