Niger
Cluster Munition Ban Policy
Policy
The Republic of Niger signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 3 December 2008 and ratified on 2 June 2009. It was among the first 30 ratifications that triggered the convention’s entry into force on 1 August 2010.
Niger is believed to be in the process of undertaking legislative measures to implement the obligations of the Convention on Cluster Munitions. Previously, in May 2013, it stated that a draft national implementation law for the convention was being prepared.[1] Government officials have indicated since 2010 that Niger is preparing national implementation legislation for the convention.[2]
As of 27 June 2014, Niger had not yet submitted its initial Article 7 transparency report for the Convention on Cluster Munitions, which was originally due 28 January 2011.
Niger participated in the Oslo Process that produced the convention and supported a comprehensive treaty without exception.[3]
Niger has continued to engage in the work of the Convention on Cluster Munitions. It has participated in every Meeting of States Parties of the convention except for the Fourth Meeting of States Parties in Lusaka, Zambia in September 2013. Niger attended intersessional meetings of the convention in Geneva in 2012, 2013, and 2014. Niger also attended a regional meeting on the convention in Lomé, Togo in May 2013.
In 2013, Niger expressed its views on certain important issues related to interpretation and implementation of the convention. An official informed the Monitor that Niger considered transit and foreign stockpiling of cluster munitions on the territory of a State Party prohibited under the convention. Similarly, Niger considered assistance during joint military operations with states not party that may use cluster munitions and investment in the production of cluster munitions to be banned by the convention.[4]
Niger is party to the Mine Ban Treaty. It is also party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons.
Use, production, transfer, and stockpiling
In a 2009 letter, Niger stated that it has never used, produced, transferred, or stockpiled cluster munitions.[5]
[1] Statement of Niger, Lomé Regional Seminar on the Universalization of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, Lomé, Togo, 22 May 2013. Notes by Action on Armed Violence (AOAV).
[2] CMC meeting with Abdou Seydou Sayni, Vice-President, Commission Nationale pour la
Collecte et le Contrôle des Armes Illicites (CNCCAI), Lao PDR, 9–12 November 2010.
[3] For details on Niger’s cluster munition policy and practice through early 2009, see Human Rights Watch and Landmine Action, Banning Cluster Munitions: Government Policy and Practice (Ottawa: Mines Action Canada, May 2009), pp. 133–134.
[4] Monitor meeting with Allassan Fousseini, CNCCAI, Geneva, 28 May 2013.
[5] Letter No. 001581 from Aïchatou Mindaoudou Souleymane, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Cooperation and African Integration, 3 March 2009.