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Peru
Cluster Munition Ban Policy
Commitment to the Convention on Cluster Munitions
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Convention on Cluster Munitions status |
Signatory |
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Participation in Convention on Cluster Munitions meetings |
Attended First Meeting of States Parties in in Vientiane, Lao PDR in November 2010 and intersessional meetings in Geneva in June 2011 |
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Key developments |
Ratification process underway |
Policy
The Republic of Peru signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 3 December 2008.
Peru’s ratification of the convention has been progressing. During 2009 and 2010, the convention was reviewed by relevant government agencies.[1] In October 2010, the Ministry of Foreign Relations submitted the ratification package to the Cabinet.[2] Ratification legislation, number 4638-2010-PE, was introduced in Congress in late 2010 and referred to a congressional committee for review.[3] On 18 April 2011, the Committee on Foreign Relations issued a report recommending approval of the ratification legislation.[4]
At the First Meeting of States Parties, Peru gave an update on ratification and said that it had started to determine national and international resources required for implementation. Peru also said it had begun the process of preparing a voluntary Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 7 report.[5]
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.[6] Since 2008, Peru has continued to support the convention despite the delay in ratifying. Peru attended the First Meeting of States Parties to the Convention on Cluster Munitions in Vientiane, Lao PDR in November 2010, as well as intersessional meetings held in Geneva in June 2011.
A local NGO, the Institute for Security and Human Rights (Instituto de Seguridad y Derechos Humanos, ISDH), has been campaigning for Peru to ratify the convention without delay.[7]
Peru is a State Party to the Mine Ban Treaty. Peru is also party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) and its Protocol V on explosive remnants of war, but has not engaged in CCW deliberations on cluster munitions in recent years.
Use, production, transfer, and stockpiling
Peru is not believed to have ever used or produced cluster munitions.
In May 2007, the Peruvian Minister of Defense publicly disclosed that the Peruvian Air Force possesses stockpiles of CB-470 cluster bombs of South African origin, BME-330 cluster bombs of Spanish origin, and RBK-500 cluster bombs of Russian/Soviet origin.[8] The status and precise composition of the current stockpile is not known.
Peru has expressed concerns about the cost and timing of the destruction of its stockpile of cluster munitions.[9] In June 2011, Peru said that it was working on plans for the destruction of its stockpiled cluster munitions.[10]
[1] Letter from José Antonio García Belaunde, Minister of Foreign Relations, to César Alejandro Zumaeta Flores, President of Congress, 25 January 2011.
[2] Letter from Julio Muñoz Deacon, Ambassador, Secretary General of the Ministry of Foreign Relations, to Dr. Luis Antonio Alemán Nakamine, Secretary General of the Presidency of the Cabinet, 12 October 2010.
[3] Letter from José Antonio García Belaunde, Minister of Foreign Relations, to César Alejandro Zumaeta Flores, President of Congress, 25 January 2011.
[4] Letter from Hildebrando Tapia Samaniego, President, Foreign Relations Commission, to César Alejandro Zumaeta Flores, President of Congress, 10 May 2011.
[5] Statement of Peru, First Meeting of States Parties, Convention on Cluster Munitions, 10 November 2010. Notes by Action on Armed Violence.
[6] For detail 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.
[7] ISDH organized several activities to welcome the 1 August 2010 entry into force of the convention including a public screening of films on cluster munitions, Peruvian drumming, and the collection of a petition calling for swift ratification of the convention. See: “Piden que el Perú ratifique acuerdo contra armas de racimo y minas explosives” (“Peru asked to ratify the agreement against cluster munitions and explosive mines”), Info Region (Lima), 1 August 2010, www.inforegion.pe; and CMC, “Entry into force of the Convention on Cluster Munitions Report: 1 August 2010,” November 2010, p. 24.
[8] 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. Human Rights Watch was shown photographs of these cluster munitions by a member of the national media in May 2007. See also, Ángel Páez, “Se eliminaran las bombas de racimo” (“Cluster bombs will be eliminated”), La República.pe, 29 May 2007.
[9] CMC meeting with the delegation of Peru, International Conference on the Convention on Cluster Munitions, Santiago, 7–9 June 2010. Notes by the CMC.
[10] Statement of Peru, Convention on Cluster Munitions Intersessional Meeting, Session on Universalization, 27 June 2011, www.clusterconvention.org.
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