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Tunisia
Cluster Munition Ban Policy
Commitment to the Convention on Cluster Munitions
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Convention on Cluster Munitions status |
State Party |
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Participation in Convention on Cluster Munitions meetings |
None |
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Key developments |
Became a State Party on 1 March 2011 |
Policy
The Republic of Tunisia signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 12 January 2009 and ratified on 28 September 2010. The convention entered into force for Tunisia on 1 March 2011.
In February 2010, the Chamber of Deputies adopted legislation approving ratification of the convention.[1] Tunisia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Kamel Morjane, deposited the instrument of ratification on 28 September 2010 during the opening of the UN General Assembly in New York. Tunisia was the first country from the Middle East and North Africa region to ratify the convention and the 42nd globally.
In April 2011, Tunisia’s permanent mission to the UN in Geneva informed the Monitor that Tunisia adheres to the convention under the terms of the ratification law enacted in February 2010.
Tunisia’s initial Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 7 report is due by 28 August 2011.
Tunisia participated in one regional meeting of the Oslo Process that created the convention (Livingstone, Zambia in March 2008) and was the first country to sign the Convention on Cluster Munitions after it was opened for signature in Oslo in December 2008.[2] Despite its support for the convention, Tunisia has not attended any meetings related to the convention since 2008, such as the First Meeting of States Parties to the Convention on Cluster Munitions in Vientiane, Lao PDR in November 2010 or intersessional meetings in Geneva in June 2011.
Tunisia is party to the Mine Ban Treaty. Tunisia is also a party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) and its Protocol V on explosive remnants of war. It has attended the CCW deliberations on cluster munitions in recent years, but rarely made any statements.
In April 2011, Tunisia stated that it has not used, produced, transferred, or stockpiled cluster munitions.[3] Tunisia is reported to possess the Hydra-70 air-to-surface unguided rocket system, but it is not known if the ammunition types available to it include the M261 Multi-Purpose Submunition rocket.[4]
[1] Law 08 was enacted on 15 February 2010. Letter from Permanent Mission of Tunisia to the UN in Geneva, to Mary Wareham, Senior Advisor, Arms Division, Human Rights Watch, 10 April 2011; and “Tunisia ratifies Convention on Cluster Munitions,” Tunisia Online News, 10 February 2010, tunisiaonlinenews.com.
[2] For details on Tunisia’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. 171.
[3] Original statement: “la Tunisie n'a aucune activité en lien avec la production, le stockage, le transfert ou l'utilisation des armes à sous-munitions.” Letter from Permanent Mission of Tunisia to the UN in Geneva, to Mary Wareham, Human Rights Watch, 10 April 2011.
[4] Colin King, ed., Jane’s Explosive Ordnance Disposal 2007–2008, CD-edition, 15 January 2008 (Surrey, UK: Jane’s Information Group Limited, 2008).
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