Commitment to the Convention on Cluster Munitions

Policy

The Republic of Guatemala signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 3 December 2008 and ratified on 3 November 2010. The convention entered into force for Guatemala on 1 May 2011.

Guatemala’s implementing legislation for the convention is the Law on Cluster Munitions and/or Explosive Bomblets enacted on 14 August 2012, which imposes penal sanctions of 12–18 years imprisonment for engaging in acts prohibited by the law, while assistance with these acts is subject to a prison sentence of 10–15 years.[1]

Guatemala provided its initial Article 7 report for the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 31 August 2011 and annual updates in 2012 and 2013.[2] As of 27 June 2014, Guatemala had not yet provided the annual updated report due by 30 April 2014.[3]

Guatemala actively participated in the Oslo Process that produced the Convention on Cluster Munitions and opposed efforts to weaken the convention in any way.[4] Guatemala attended the Fourth Meeting of States Parties in Lusaka, Zambia in September 2013, but did not make a statement. Guatemala has attended every intersessional meeting of the convention held in Geneva, including in April 2014, where it did not make a statement.

Guatemala participated in a regional workshop on cluster munitions hosted by Chile in Santiago on 12–13 December 2013, where its representative made a presentation on the process of drafting and approval of its national implementation legislation.

Guatemala has voted in favor of a 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.”[5]

Interpretive issues

On interpretive matters relating to the convention, Guatemala stated in May 2010 that in its view “the stockpiling of cluster munitions of other countries in the territory of a State Party to the Convention, as well as the investment in its production is prohibited according to Article 1 of the Convention.”[6]

Guatemala said in March 2009, “Even though the Convention is not explicit…Guatemala agrees that the transit of cluster munitions in the territory of the States Parties should not be permitted.” This position is affirmed in Guatemala’s national implementation legislation, which states that the “trading, illegal possession or carrying” (“intermediación, tenencia y portación”) of cluster munitions is prohibited.[7] In its 2009 statement, it also noted its opposition to the convention’s provision on interoperability and stated, “Guatemala would not participate in any military operation with States that use cluster munitions.”[8] Although Guatemala’s implementation legislation allows the country’s forces to participate in joint operations with states not party that might engage in prohibited acts, the law does not waive its absolute prohibitions in such situations.

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

Use, production, transfer, and stockpiling

Guatemala has stated on several occasions that it has never used or transferred cluster munitions.[9] It has declared that it has no facilities for the production of cluster munitions.[10]

Guatemala has declared that it has no cluster munitions stockpiled, including for training purposes.[11]

Guatemala’s implementing legislation allows for cluster munitions to be retained or acquired for training purposes and states that any retained munitions “will not exceed the minimum number that the National Ministry of Defence considers absolutely necessary.”[12]