Namibia
Cluster Munition Ban Policy
Policy
The Republic of Namibia signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 3 December 2008.
In September 2013, the Minister of Safety and Security, Immanuel Ngatjizeko, informed States Parties that “Namibia is at an advanced stage which will see the deposit of the said instrument for ratification” for the convention, following “extensive consultations in this regard.”[1] Yet in April 2014, Namibia stated that consultations on ratification of the convention “are still ongoing in the Capital” but did not provide a timeframe for when the ratification would be introduced for parliamentary approval.[2]
Since 2010, government officials have confirmed Namibia’s intent to ratify the ban convention, but there has been little measurable progress towards this objective.[3] A government representative, participating in a February 2014 workshop on universalization of the convention, committed to follow-up with capital on the matter of ratification.[4]
Namibia participated in two Africa regional meetings held during the Oslo Process that produced the Convention on Cluster Munitions.[5]
Namibia has continued to engage in the work of the convention despite not ratifying. It has participated in every Meeting of States Parties of the convention, including the Fourth Meeting of States Parties in Lusaka in September 2013. Namibia attended the convention’s intersessional meetings in Geneva in 2013 and April 2014. Namibia participated in a regional meeting on the convention in Lomé, Togo in May 2013, where it endorsed the Lomé Strategy on the Universalization of the Convention on Cluster Munitions committing to ratify the convention at the earliest opportunity.[6]
Namibia is a State Party to the Mine Ban Treaty. Namibia is not party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons.
Use, production, transfer, and stockpiling
Namibia has stated several times that it has not produced, transferred, or used cluster munitions and does not stockpile the weapons.[7] Namibia is reported to possess Grad 122mm surface-to-surface rockets, but it is not known if these include versions with submunition payloads.[8]
[1] Statement of Namibia, Opening Ceremony, Convention on Cluster Munitions Fourth Meeting of States Parties, Lusaka, 9 September 2013.
[2] Statement of Namibia, Convention on Cluster Munitions Intersessional Meetings, Geneva, April 2014.
[3] See, for example, statement of Namibia, Lomé Regional Seminar on the Universalization of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, Lomé, Togo, 23 May 2013; statement of Namibia, Accra Regional Conference on the Universalization of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, Accra, 28 May 2012. Notes by the CMC; and CMC meeting with Namibian delegate, International Conference on the Convention on Cluster Munitions, Santiago, 7–9 June 2010. Notes by the CMC.
[4] CMC meeting with Stella Katjingisiua, Second Secretary for Disarmament and Finance, Permanent Mission of Namibia to the United Nations in Geneva, Geneva, 20 February 2014.
[5] For details on Namibia’s policy and practice regarding cluster munitions through early 2009, see Human Rights Watch and Landmine Action, Banning Cluster Munitions: Government Policy and Practice (Ottawa: Mines Action Canada, May 2009), p. 123.
[6] “Lomé Strategy on the Universalization of the Convention on Cluster Munitions,” Lomé Regional Seminar on the Universalization of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, Lomé, Togo, 23 May 2013.
[7] See, for example, statement of Namibia, Opening Ceremony, Convention on Cluster Munitions Fourth Meeting of States Parties, Lusaka, 9 September 2013; statement of Namibia, Kampala Conference on the Convention on Cluster Munitions, 30 September 2008. Notes by the CMC; and statement of Namibia, Convention on Cluster Munitions Third Meeting of States Parties, Oslo, 13 September 2012.
[8] International Institute for Strategic Studies, The Military Balance 2011 (London: Routledge, 2011), p. 434.