Commitment to the Convention on Cluster Munitions

Policy

Ireland both signed and ratified the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 3 December 2008. It was among the first 30 ratifications that triggered entry into force of the convention on 1 August 2010.

Ireland’s implementing legislation for the convention is the Cluster Munitions and Anti-Personnel Mines Act 2008.[1] In 2009, the Irish Defence Forces issued an instruction to all Irish commanders and staff officers serving overseas laying down “strict parameters for implementation” of the act, “including inter alia directives concerning engagement in military cooperation and operations with states not party to the convention.”[2]

Ireland submitted its initial Article 7 report for the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 27 January 2011 and has provided annual updated reports ever since, including in April 2014.[3]

Ireland was a driving force behind the Oslo Process that produced the Convention on Cluster Munitions and was a member of the small “Core Group” of nations that took responsibility for steering the process to its successful conclusion. Ireland hosted the formal negotiations of the convention in Dublin in May 2008 and bears a great deal of the responsibility for the successful outcome of the negotiations and the strength of the convention.[4]

Ireland has continued to actively engage in the work of the Convention on Cluster Munitions since 2008. It has participated in every Meeting of States Parties of the convention, including the Fourth Meeting of States Parties in Lusaka, Zambia in September 2013. Ireland has attended all of the convention’s intersessional meetings in Geneva, including those held in April 2014.

Ireland has continued its dedicated efforts to promote the Convention on Cluster Munitions, including through its universalization. In September 2013, it called on States Parties to renew their efforts to bring additional states on board the treaty, and said it uses its “bilateral contacts with non-states parties as well as the opportunities provided by multi-lateral occasions to advocate for greater adherence to the Convention.” Ireland commented that “even when not successful, it is useful to maintain open channels of communication” with states not party.[5]

Ireland has condemned the use of cluster munitions by the Syrian government forces on several occasions since October 2012.[6] At the UN General Assembly (UNGA) First Committee on Disarmament and International Security in October 2013, Ireland called the reports of Syria’s use of cluster munitions “deeply worrying.”[7] In September 2013, its representative expressed “Ireland’s condemnation of the ongoing use of cluster munitions in Syria and call[ed] on all states and non-state actors to refrain from using these weapons.” Ireland said that the ongoing use of cluster munitions in Syria demonstrates the continuing importance of achieving universalization of the convention.[8]

Ireland has voted in favor of recent UNGA resolutions condemning the use of cluster munitions by the Syrian government, 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.”[9]

Interpretive Issues

Ireland has expressed its views on a number of issues important to the interpretation and implementation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, including the prohibition on assistance with prohibited acts, the prohibition on transit and foreign stockpiling, and the need for retention of cluster munitions and submunitions for training and development purposes.

With respect to the prohibition on assistance with prohibited acts during joint military operations and the provisions of Article 21 of the convention, Ireland said in 2009 that “any deliberate assistance in the commission of an act prohibited by the Convention in the context of military co-operation with a state not party will be inconsistent with this obligation to make its best efforts to discourage the use of cluster munitions by the latter and that Article 21(3) must be interpreted accordingly.”[10] Ireland’s national legislation includes a section on implementation of Article 21, which the Department of Foreign Affairs has said “is not to enable assistance with prohibited acts…Rather, this provision is intended to ensure that no person may be prosecuted for an act or omission that might otherwise constitute assistance but is unintended or inadvertent, or has only a remote or indirect relationship to the commission of a prohibited act by a state not party to the Convention.”[11]

Regarding the prohibition on the transit of cluster munitions across, and the foreign stockpiling of cluster munitions on, the territory of States Parties to the convention, in 2011 Ireland said that it “recognizes that in any case in which these issues might arise it will be necessary to consider to what extent at all, the provisions of Article 21 of the Convention apply,” adding that “inevitably this may be different in each case.”[12]

Ireland has been a strong proponent for the retention of cluster munitions for training and research, despite not retaining any cluster munitions itself. In 2010, Ireland said that live cluster munitions are necessary for “the development of render safe procedures, training of personnel, and the calibration of detection equipment.”[13] In 2011, Ireland said that live cluster munitions are necessary under the convention, including for “the calibration and testing of…mechanical clearance technologies and protective equipment for clearance personnel.”[14]

Ireland’s implementing legislation prohibits investment of public money in cluster munition production, which made Ireland the second country to prohibit investment in cluster munitions and set a leading example for the implementation of the convention.[15] The law contains a clear and unambiguous prohibition on “direct or indirect” investment in cluster munition producers, including producers of components specifically designed for cluster munitions. It stipulates the responsibilities of the investor, including to exercise “due diligence.”[16] Some NGOs have raised concerns about implementation of the law.[17]

In 2008, upon a specific request from the Irish government, Ireland’s National Pensions Reserve Fund, responsible for financing Ireland’s national pension requirements, announced the withdrawal of €27 million (US$39,760,200) from six international companies linked to the production of cluster munitions.[18] Following the enactment of Ireland’s national legislation on the convention, the National Pension Reserve Fund disinvested from another seven companies and rejected four others from future investments, based on their involvement in the production of cluster munitions or antipersonnel mines.[19]

Use, production, transfer, and stockpiling

Ireland has declared that it has not produced or stockpiled cluster munitions.[20] Ireland has also stated that it has never used or transferred cluster munitions.[21]

Ireland has declared that it is not retaining any cluster munitions for training.[22]