Zambia

Last Updated: 23 August 2014

Cluster Munition Ban Policy

Commitment to the Convention on Cluster Munitions

Convention on Cluster Munitions status

State Party

National implementation measures

Legislation in preparation since 2010

Participation in Convention on Cluster Munitions meetings

Hosted the Fourth Meeting of States Parties in Lusaka, Zambia in September 2013; attended intersessional meetings in Geneva in April 2014 and a regional meeting in Lomé, Togo in May 2013

Key developments

President-elect of the Fourth Meeting of States Parties since September 2013

Policy

The Republic of Zambia signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 3 December 2008 and ratified on 12 August 2009. It was among the first 30 ratifications that triggered entry into force of the convention on 1 August 2010.

Zambia has been in the process of preparing national legislation to enforce the provisions of the Convention on Cluster Munitions since 2010. It reported in April 2014 that the process of domestication of the convention into national law had reached “an advanced stage” as draft legislation “is in the process of finalization before submitting to Parliament.”[1] In 2013, Zambian officials stated that draft implementation legislation was in the process of being prepared for submission to parliament.[2]

Zambia submitted its initial Article 7 transparency report for the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 21 January 2011 and provided annual updated reports in 2012, 2013, and on 30 April 2014.[3]

Zambia played an influential leadership role during the Oslo Process that created the Convention on Cluster Munitions, including by hosting an African regional conference in Livingstone in March–April 2008 that helped generate broad and united support from many African states for a comprehensive convention.[4]

Zambia has continued to play an active role in work of the Convention on Cluster Munitions. It hosted and has served as the President of the Fourth Meeting of States Parties of the convention held in Lusaka on 9–13 September 2013. A total of 106 countries participated in the meeting as well as representatives from international organizations and the CMC. In opening the meeting, the President of Zambia, Michael Chilufya Sata, said that cluster munitions “have no place in the modern era” as the weapons are “indiscriminate” and can “act as de-facto traps once they are fired and fail to explode.”[5] The Fourth Meeting of States Parties concluded with the adoption of a “Lusaka Progress Report” detailing progress made on the convention’s implementation and universalization since 2010 and especially since the previous Meeting of States Parties in September 2012.[6]

Zambia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Wylbur Simuusa served as President of the Fourth Meeting of States Parties during the meeting and promised to use the platform to highlight the need for universalization of the convention, particularly throughout the African continent.[7] In March 2014, Simuusa visited State Party Lao PDR in his capacity as President of the Fourth Meeting of States Parties, where he witnessed clearance operations and met cluster munitions survivors.[8]

In March 2014, Henry Kalaba replaced Simuusa as Zambia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and has continued to promote universalization of the convention in his capacity as President of the Fourth Meeting of States Parties. In early June 2014, Kalaba visited Mauritius, where he met with the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Arvin Boolell, to encourage the government to accede to the convention.[9] During a June 2014 visit to Harare, Kalaba met with Zimbabwe’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Simbarashe Mumbengegwi, who told him that Zimbabwe is committed to acceding to the convention, as well as Zimbabwe’s Minister of Defence, Dr Sydney Sekeramayi, who also reaffirmed the government’s commitment to accede.[10]

In 2012–2013, Zambia served as co-coordinator on the General Status and Operation of the convention together with Costa Rica.

Zambia has attended every Meeting of States Parties of the convention as well as participated in the convention’s intersessional meetings held in Geneva.

At the April 2014 intersessional meetings, Zambia made statements on stockpile destruction and national implementation measures and provided a detailed presentation on its preparations for the Fourth Meeting of States Parties. Zambia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs assisted Togo to hold a regional seminar on the convention in Lomé in May 2013.

In its capacity as President of the Fourth Meeting of States Parties, Zambia has condemned the use of cluster munitions in South Sudan.[11] It has not condemned the Syrian government’s use of cluster munitions.

Interpretive issues

Zambia has expressed its views on a number of important matters related to the interpretation and implementation of the convention. In May 2008, during the convention’s negotiations, Zambia expressed concern about the proposed article on “interoperability” (joint military operations with states not party) and stated that it understood that the provisions for interoperability in Article 21 did not provide a loophole for States Parties to allow the transit or indefinite stockpiling of cluster munitions in their territories.[12] In April 2009, the Minister of Foreign Affairs stated that Zambia does not believe that States Parties to the convention should “in any way assist the use [or] transfer of cluster bombs within or without their territories in the name of joint operations.”[13] In 2009, the director of the Zambia Mine Action Centre (ZMAC) stated that Zambia believed that the prohibition on assistance prohibits investment in the production of cluster munitions.[14]

Zambia is a State Party to the Mine Ban Treaty. It is not party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons.

Use, production, transfer, and stockpiling

Zambia has declared that it “has never produced cluster munitions,” has no production facilities for cluster munitions, and “does not stockpile cluster munitions” including for training or research.[15] Zambia has also stated that it has not transferred cluster munitions.[16]

 



[2] See, for example: statement of Zambia, Lomé Regional Seminar on the Universalization of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, Lomé, Togo, 22 May 2013; and statement of Zambia, Convention on Cluster Munitions Intersessional Meetings, Geneva, 19 April 2013.

[3] A range of time periods are covered by the reports provided on 21 January 2011 (covering the period from 1 August 2010 to 21 January 2011), 30 April 2012 (for the period from 22 January 2011 to 30 April 2012), 30 August 2013 (for the period from 30 April 2012 to 39 August 2013), and 30 April 2014 (for the period from 30 April 2013 to 30 April 2014). All cover sheets on the annual updated reports state that information contained in the initial report remains unchanged.

[4] For details on Zambia’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. 181–183.

[5] Statement by President Michael Chilufya Sata, Convention on Cluster Munitions Fourth Meeting of States Parties, Lusaka, 9 September 2013.

[7] Statement by Wylbur Simuusa, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Zambia and President of the Fourth Meeting of States Parties, Convention on Cluster Munitions Fourth Meeting of States Parties, Lusaka, 10 September 2013.

[9] Alick Banda, “Kalaba lobbies Mauritius to accede to Convention on Cluster Munitions,” The Independent Observer (Zambia), 6 June 2014.

[10]Sign convention on cluster bombs – Kalaba,” Zambia Daily Mail, 6 June 2014; and Abel Mboozi, “Kalaba urges Africa to sign cluster munition convention,” The Post Online, 6 June 2014.

[11] Statement by Zambia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Wylbur C. Simuusa, President of the Fourth Meeting of States Parties of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, 14 February 2014.

[12] Statement of Zambia, Committee of the Whole, Dublin Diplomatic Conference on Cluster Munitions, 30 May 2008. Notes by Landmine Action.

[13] Letter MFA/104/22/148 from Kabinga Jacus Pande, Minister of Foreign Affairs, 9 April 2009.

[14] Statement by Sheila Mweemba, ZMAC, National Committee on Anti-Personnel Landmines meeting, Lusaka, 11 September 2009. Notes by the Zambian Campaign to Ban Landmines (ZCBL).

[15] Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 7 Report, Forms A to E (inclusive), 21 January 2011. In 2009, ZMAC’s director stated that Zambia had never produced and did not possess a stockpile of cluster munitions. Statement by Sheila Mweemba, ZMAC, National Committee on Anti-Personnel Landmines meeting, Lusaka, 11 September 2009. Notes by the ZCBL.

[16] Statement of Zambia, Accra Regional Conference on the Universalization of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, Accra, 28 May 2012.