Tanzania
Cluster Munition Ban Policy
Policy
The United Republic of Tanzania signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 3 December 2008.
As of June 2014, Tanzania’s ratification of the convention had yet to be approved by the Cabinet and introduced to parliament for adoption. In its last statement on the ratification in May 2013, Tanzania described the process as “ongoing” following extensive consultations with relevant actors.[1] In February 2014, representatives from Tanzania’s Permanent Mission to the UN in Geneva attended a workshop on universalization of the convention in Geneva and committed to follow-up with capital on the ratification.[2]
Tanzania has indicated that national legislation to implement the Convention on Cluster Munitions will be necessary following ratification.[3]
Tanzania participated in the Oslo Process that created the Convention on Cluster Munitions and worked hard to achieve a strong and comprehensive treaty text during the Dublin negotiations in May 2008.[4]
Despite not ratifying, Tanzania has continued to engage in the work of the Convention on Cluster Munitions. It has participated in every Meeting of States Parties, including the Fourth Meeting of States Parties in Lusaka, Zambia in September 2013. Tanzania attended the convention’s intersessional meetings in Geneva in 2012, 2013, and April 2014. It also participated in regional meetings on the convention held in Ghana in 2012 and Togo in 2013.
In September 2013, Tanzania’s Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Hon. Mahadhi Juma Maalum, encouraged states that have not yet done so to join “with the ultimate goal of saving innocent lives.”[5]
Tanzania is a State Party to the Mine Ban Treaty. It is not party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons.
Use, production, transfer, and stockpiling
Tanzania has stated several times that it has not produced, stockpiled, transferred, or used cluster munitions.[6]
[1] Statement of Tanzania, Lomé Regional Seminar on the Universalization of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, Lomé, Togo, 23 May 2013. During the meeting, a government representative informed the CMC that interagency consultations have been completed and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation is preparing to submit the ratification package to cabinet for approval. CMC meeting with Deusdedit B. Kaganda, Minister Counsellor, Permanent Mission of Tanzania to the UN in Geneva, in Lomé, 22 May 2013.
[2] CMC meeting with Ambassador Modest Mero and Deusdedit Kaganda, Permanent Mission of Tanzania to the UN in Geneva, Geneva, 20 February 2014.
[3] CMC meeting with Noel Kaganda, First Secretary, Permanent Mission of Tanzania to the UN in New York, New York, 15 October 2009. Notes by the CMC.
[4] For details on Tanzania’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. 170.
[5] Statement of Tanzania, Convention on Cluster Munitions Fourth Meeting of States Parties, Lusaka, 10 September 2013.
[6] Statement of Tanzania, Lima Conference on Cluster Munitions, 24 May 2007. Notes by the CMC/Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom; statement of Tanzania, Accra Regional Conference on the Universalization of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, Accra, 28 May 2012; and statement of Tanzania, Lomé Regional Seminar on the Universalization of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, Lomé, Togo, 23 May 2013.