Policy

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

Finland continues to show interest in the Convention on Cluster Munitions, but does not appear to be actively considering accession in the near future. In a 27 April 2014 letter, the Ministry for Foreign Affairs informed the Monitor that “no such changes in conditions have taken place which would as yet enable accession to the Convention,” following an annual review of its Cabinet Committee on Foreign and Security Policy on military technology.[1]

After the Convention on Cluster Munitions was adopted, a 2009 government report on “Finnish Security and Defence Policy” found that the convention “significantly impacts Finland’s defence and its resource requirements” but announced that the convention would be reassessed annually by the Cabinet Committee on Foreign and Security Policy.[2] On 20 September 2013, the Cabinet Committee met together with the President of Finland to review the status of accession to the Convention on Cluster Munitions. A government press release issued after the meeting stated: “Finland considers the Oslo convention significant from the humanitarian point of view and participates in its implementation through humanitarian mine action. There have been no such changes in the circumstances that would enable Finland to join the convention.”[3] Finland has often expressed support for the humanitarian principles of the convention. In an April 2014 letter to the Monitor, the Ministry for Foreign Affairs reiterated “Finland considers it important to engage on a global level to alleviate the humanitarian consequences of cluster munitions” and acknowledges “the Convention’s role from the humanitarian perspective and its goals for universalization.” It also noted the value of “the good dialogue that we have with the civil society” and commended its role within the field of arms control, disarmament, and non-proliferation.[4]

Finnish government officials have cited Ministry of Defence concerns about the costs of replacing stockpiled cluster munitions as an obstacle to its accession.[5] In an April 2014 meeting with the CMC, a Finnish official cited costs of implementing the convention’s provisions as well as security concerns as reasons for the lack of accession.[6] Finnish representatives have indicated that a plan for stockpile destruction within the mandated timeframe under the convention would have to be in place before Finland could join.[7]

In 2012, a Finnish official informed the CMC that the government’s top priority is to fulfill Finland’s obligations under the Mine Ban Treaty, which it joined in January 2012.[8]

Finland is party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) and in the past supported efforts to adopt a CCW protocol on cluster munitions. The 2014 letter from the Ministry for Foreign Affairs makes no reference to the CCW.

Finland participated throughout the Oslo Process that created the Convention on Cluster Munitions, but consistently expressed reservations about the process and the convention text and was not supportive of a broad categorical ban on cluster munitions.[9] Finland joined the consensus adoption of the Convention on Cluster Munitions in May 2008, but five months later announced that it would not sign the convention in Oslo in December 2008.[10] At the time, Minister of Defence Jyri Häkämies stated, “cluster munitions play an important role in the credibility [and] autonomy…of Finnish defense.” The Finnish military claimed that due to costs and other factors it would not be possible to replace Finland’s stockpile of cluster munitions with alternative weapons within five to 10 years.[11] Finland has also cited security concerns over its border with Russia for its refusal to sign the convention.[12]

Despite not joining, Finland has continued to engage in the work of the Convention on Cluster Munitions since 2008. Finland has participated as an observer in every Meeting of States Parties of the convention, including the Fourth Meeting of States Parties in Lusaka, Zambia in September 2013. In April 2013, Finland attended the convention’s intersessional meetings in Geneva for the first time since 2011. Finland did not make any statements at these meetings.

Finland has voted in favor of UN General Assembly (UNGA) resolutions condemning the Syrian government’s cluster munition use, including Resolution 68/182 on 18 December 2013 which expressed “outrage” at “continued widespread and systematic gross violations of human rights…including those involving the use of…cluster munitions.”[13]

Use, production, transfer, and stockpiling

According to the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, “Finland does not produce cluster munitions nor has [it] used them.”[14]

In early 2005, Patria, a Finnish company, made arrangements to co-produce a 120mm cluster munition mortar bomb called MAT-120, then produced by the Spanish company Instalaza SA. The deal was canceled in 2009 by Patria and the Finnish Defence Forces after Spain signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions. During the development of the program, Patria imported to Finland 305 “live” MAT-120 from Spain in 2005–2007 and also acquired 230 inert MAT-120 bombs. As of July 2011, a total of 136 “live” MAT-120 remained in the custody of the Finnish Defence Forces; none of the MAT-120 imported to Finland were exported.[15]

In 2010, a Ministry of Defence official stated that information on the size and composition of Finland’s stockpile of cluster munitions was confidential.[16] Finland has acknowledged possessing one type of cluster munition, the DM-662 155mm artillery projectile, which contains 49 dual-purpose improved conventional munition (DPICM) submunitions with self-destruct fuzes.[17]

In 2006, the Ministry of Defence of the Netherlands announced the transfer of 18 multiple launch rocket system (MLRS) launchers to Finland.[18] It was reported that 400 M26 rockets (each containing 644 M77 DPICM submunitions) were to be included in the sale for qualification testing and conversion into training rockets.[19]