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Belarus

Last Updated: 18 July 2012

Cluster Munition Ban Policy

The Republic of Belarus has not acceded to the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

Belarus has long held the view that “balance” is needed to address both military and humanitarian concerns relating to cluster munitions. It has stated that these concerns should be addressed through the framework of the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW).

Previously, in 2010, a government representative described the Convention on Cluster Munitions as “too strict” and not applicable for Belarus as it may threaten its security.[1] In 2008, Belarus said that it “shares the humanitarian concerns” caused by the use of cluster munitions but believes that new agreements should be “developed in the course of a step-by-step process and open discussion.”[2]

Belarus did not participate in the Oslo Process that created the Convention on Cluster Munitions and has not attended any meetings of the convention in the period since 2008, even as an observer.[3]

Belarus is a party to the Mine Ban Treaty, but missed its 1 March 2008 treaty-mandated deadline for the destruction of all stockpiled antipersonnel mines.[4] (See Belarus Country Profile on mine ban policy).

Convention on Conventional Weapons

Belarus is party to the CCW and participated in CCW deliberations on cluster munitions. At the CCW's Fourth Review Conference in November 2011, Belarus expressed support for the conclusion of a draft protocol on cluster munitions. During the negotiations, Belarus said the draft text does not reflect “all of our concerns,” but stated that it was willing to adopt it “to resolve the issue of cluster munitions.”[5] The Review Conference ended without reaching agreement on the draft protocol, thus concluding the CCW’s work on cluster munitions.

Use, production, transfer, and stockpiling

In 2010, Belarus said, “Our country is not a producer of cluster munitions.”[6] It is not known to have used or exported cluster munitions.

Belarus inherited a stockpile of cluster munitions from the Soviet Union. In 2010, Belarus said that it doesn’t have a “major” stockpile of cluster munitions, but it has not provided any information on the types or quantities.[7]

According to Jane’s Information Group, RBK-500 cluster bombs are in service with the country’s air force.[8] Belarus also possesses Grad 122mm, Uragan 220mm, and Smerch 300mm surface-to-surface rockets, but it is not known if these include versions with submunition payloads.[9]

According to a CMC member in Belarus, cluster munitions with expired shelf-life are regularly destroyed by the Ministry of Defense.[10]

 



[1] Meeting with Ivan Grinevich, Counsellor, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Belarus, Geneva, 30 November 2010. Notes by the CMC.

[2] Statement of Belarus, UN General Assembly, First Committee, New York, 30 October 2008. Translation provided by email from Tatiana Fedorovich, Permanent Mission of Belarus to the UN in New York, 26 November 2008. 

[3] For details on Belarus’s cluster munition policy and practice up to early 2009, see Human Rights Watch and Landmin Action, Banning Cluster Munitions: Government Policy and Practice (Ottawa: Mines Action Canada, May 2009), pp. 190–191.

[4] See ICBL, “Country Profile: Belarus,” www.the-monitor.org.

[5] Statement of Belarus, CCW Fourth Review Conference, 24 November 2011. Notes by HRW.

[6] Statement of Belarus, CCW GGE on Cluster Munitions, Geneva, 1 September 2010. Notes by AOAV.

[7] Ibid.

[8] Robert Hewson, ed., Jane’s Air-Launched Weapons, Issue 44 (Surrey, UK: Jane’s Information Group Limited, 2004), p. 836.

[9] International Institute for Strategic Studies, The Military Balance 2011 (London: Routledge, 2011), p. 89; and Colin King, ed., Jane’s Explosive Ordnance Disposal 2007–2008, CD-edition, 15 January 2008, (Surrey, UK: Jane’s Information Group Limited, 2008).

[10] Interview with Dr. Iouri Zagoumennov, SCAF, Minsk, 1 April 2010.