Peru

Last Updated: 12 August 2014

Cluster Munition Ban Policy

Commitment to the Convention on Cluster Munitions

Convention on Cluster Munitions status

State Party

National implementation legislation

Declared ratification law under national implementation measures

Stockpile destruction

Declared a stockpile of 675 cluster munitions and 86,200 submunitions, which it committed to destroy by the 2021 deadline

Participation in Convention on Cluster Munitions meetings

Attended intersessional meetings in Geneva in April 2014

Key developments

Provided initial transparency report in August 2013 and an update in May 2014

Policy

The Republic of Peru signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 3 December 2008, ratified on 26 September 2012, and the convention entered into force for the country on 1 March 2013.

Under national implementation measures, Peru has declared its ratification law as well as a 10 June 2011 directive on the standardization of weapon disposal procedures.[1] It is not known if Peru will enact specific legislation to enforce the provisions of the convention.

Peru submitted its initial Article 7 transparency report for the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 1 August 2013 and provided an annual updated report on 7 May 2014.[2] As one of the small core group of nations that took responsibility for the Oslo Process that created the Convention on Cluster Munitions, Peru hosted an international conference on cluster munitions in Lima in May 2007.[3]

Peru 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 the Fourth Meeting of States Parties in Lusaka, Zambia in September 2013. Peru has attended all of the convention’s intersessional meetings in Geneva, including in April 2014. Peru attended a regional workshop on cluster munitions in Santiago, Chile in December 2013.

Peru has voted in favor of recent UN General Assembly (UNGA) resolutions condemning the Syrian’s 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.”[4]

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

Use, production, and transfer

Peru is not known to have ever used, produced, or exported cluster munitions.

Stockpiling and destruction

In the initial Article 7 report provided in August 2013, Peru declared a stockpile of 675 cluster munitions of three types and 86,200 submunitions, as listed in the following table.[5]

Cluster munitions stockpiled by Peru (August 2013)[6]

Quantity and type of munitions

Quantity and type of submunitions

388 RBK-250-275 bombs

58,200 AO-1Sch (150 submunitions in each bomb)

198 RBK-500 bombs

11,800 AO-RT (60 submunitions in each)

90 BME-330 NA

16,200 (180 submunitions in each)

675

86,200

Previously, in May 2007, Peru’s Minister of Defense publicly disclosed that the Peruvian Air Force possesses stocks of BME-330 cluster bombs of Spanish origin and RBK-500 cluster bombs of Russian/Soviet origin as well as CB-470 cluster bombs of South African origin.[7]

Under Article 3 of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, Peru is required to declare and destroy all stockpiled cluster munitions under its jurisdiction and control as soon as possible but not later than 1 March 2021.

In April 2014, Peru expressed its commitment to destroy the stockpile by the deadline provided by the convention and said it has requested international cooperation and assistance from countries that have undergone a similar process, as well as support from regional and international organizations and NGOs.[8] Peru stated that it is studying the resource needs for the planned destruction of the stockpiled cluster munitions.

In the 2013 Article 7 report, Peru states that it is committed to begin the process of stockpile destruction, in accordance with existing national regulations and lists the Peruvian Air Force as the institution responsible for the stockpiled cluster munitions and their destruction.[9]

Retention

In the 2013 Article 7 report, Peru declared no cluster munitions or submunitions retained for training.[10] Previously, it expressed its intent to retain cluster munitions for the purposes of training in detection, clearance, and destruction techniques, but said it had not yet identified the number of cluster munitions or submunitions to be retained.[11]

 



[1] Resolución Legislativa que aprueba la Convención sobre Municiones en Racimo (Legislative Resolution approving the Convention on Cluster Munitions), No. 29843, 15 March 2012. On 25 April 2012, Decree 021-2012 approving ratification was signed and published in the official journal El Peruano the next day. Decree No. 021-2012-RE, 26 April 2012; “Ref. 464960,” El Peruano, 26 April 2012; and Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 7 Report, Form A, 1 August 2013.

[2] The initial report covers the period from March to August 2013, while the updated report provided on 7 May 2014 is for calendar year 2013.

[3] For details on Peru’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), pp. 142–144.

[4]Situation of human rights in the Syrian Arab Republic,” UNGA Resolution A/RES/68/182, 18 December 2013.. Peru voted in favor of a similar resolution on 15 May 2013.

[5] Peru declares that the stockpile is “Vencida por tiempo límite de vida” which translates as “expired” and states that there is “no information on the batch numbers for the submunitions.” The “AO-1C4” submunitions contained in the RBK-250-275 bombs appear to be RBK 250-275 AO-1SCh submunitions as Peru reports the standard total of 150 submunitions in each bomb. See Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 7 Report, Form B, August 2013.

[7] Ángel Páez, “Peru se suma a iniciativa mundial para prohibir y destruir las ‘bombas de racimo’” (“Peru joins global initiative to ban and destroy the ‘cluster bombs’”), La República.pe, 29 May 2007. In May 2007 a member of the national media showed Human Rights Watch photographs of these cluster munitions. See also Ángel Páez, “Se eliminarán las bombas de racimo” (“Cluster bombs will be eliminated”), La República.pe, 29 May 2007.

[8] Statement of Peru, Convention on Cluster Munitions Intersessional Meetings, Geneva, 7 April 2014.

[11] Statement of Peru, Convention on Cluster Munitions Intersessional Meetings, Geneva, 18 April 2012.