Commitment to the Convention on Cluster Munitions

Policy

The Republic of Burundi signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 3 December 2008 and ratified on 25 September 2009. It was among the first 30 ratifications to trigger the convention’s entry into force on 1 August 2010.

In May 2012, a government official informed a regional conference on cluster munitions that a group has been convened to draft legislation to enforce implementation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions.[1] Previously, in 2010, a Ministry of Foreign Affairs official stated that a drafting committee would be established to prepare legislation on national implementation measures.[2]

Burundi submitted its initial Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 7 report in early 2011.[3] As 1 June 2012, Burundi had yet to submit its annual updated Article 7 report, which was due by 30 April 2012.

Burundi participated in the Oslo Process that led to the creation of the convention, including the formal negotiations in Dublin in May 2008 where it supported a comprehensive ban on cluster munitions.[4]

Burundi has continued to actively engage in the work of the Convention on Cluster Munitions in 2011 and the first half of 2012. Burundi participated in the convention’s Second Meeting of States Parties in Beirut, Lebanon in September 2011 where it called for greater attention to victim assistance.[5] Burundi also attended the convention’s intersessional meetings in Geneva in April 2012, but did not make any statements.

Burundi participated in the Accra Regional Conference on the Universalization of the Convention on Cluster Munitions in May 2012, where it committed to spare no effort to promote universalization of the convention.[6]

In March 2012, Burundi expressed its views on certain important issues related to the interpretation and implementation of the convention. According to a Ministry of Public Security official, Burundi considers assistance with prohibited acts in joint military operations to be prohibited by the convention. Likewise, Burundi considers the transit and foreign stockpiling of cluster munitions on or across the territories of States Parties to be prohibited, along with investment in cluster munition production.[7]

Burundi is party to the Mine Ban Treaty.

Burundi is not a party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW), but it attended the CCW’s Fourth Review Conference in Geneva in November 2011 as an observer. Burundi did not actively engage in the CCW negotiations on a draft protocol on cluster munitions during the Review Conference, which ended without reaching agreement on the draft protocol, thus concluding the CCW’s work on cluster munitions.

Use, production, transfer, and stockpiling

Burundi has stated that is has never used, produced, stockpiled, or transferred cluster munitions.[8] Burundi has reported that it has no stockpile of cluster munitions, including for training.[9]