Commitment to the Convention on Cluster Munitions

Policy

The Kingdom of Cambodia has not acceded to the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

In April 2012, a government representative informed States Parties that, “Cambodia is still assessing the impact of signing the Convention on Cluster Munitions on its defense capability and the ability to comply with all obligations.”[1] In September 2011, an official repeated this statement and also reiterated, “We sincerely hope that the ultimate signing is just being [sic] a matter of time.”[2] Previously, in June 2011, Cambodia said, “The issue is now in the hands of our top leadership.”[3]

Cambodia is a State Party to the Mine Ban Treaty and hosted the treaty’s Eleventh Meeting of States Parties in Phnom Penh in November/December 2011. Just prior to the formal opening of the meeting, Prime Minister Hun Sen met with a group of survivors of landmines, cluster munitions, and other unexploded ordnance who requested that Cambodia accede to the Convention on Cluster Munitions.[4] Prime Minister Hun Sen responded that he is continuing to receive advice from government authorities on the matter, including from Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense Tea Banh.

Cambodia was an early, prominent, and influential supporter of the Oslo Process that produced the Convention on Cluster Munitions. It hosted the first regional forum on cluster munitions in Southeast Asia in Phnom Penh in March 2007. Cambodia advocated strongly for the most comprehensive and immediate ban possible and joined in the consensus adoption of the convention at the conclusion of the Dublin negotiations in May 2008. Yet, despite Cambodia’s extensive and positive leadership role, it attended the Convention on Cluster Munitions Signing Conference in Oslo on 3 December 2008 only as an observer and did not sign, stating that it needed more time to study the security implications of joining.[5]

Throughout 2009 and 2010, Cambodia cited several reasons, mostly security-related, for its delay in joining the Convention on Cluster Munitions.[6] In 2011, Cambodia’s position on accession to the convention began to show signs of change after Thailand fired cluster munitions into Cambodian territory in February 2011 during fighting on the border near Preah Vihear temple.[7] The cluster munition attacks killed two men and injured seven.[8] The CMC urged Thailand to provide detailed information on the cluster munition strikes and said that both Thailand and Cambodia should immediately commit to no future use of cluster munitions and to accede to the Convention on Cluster Munitions.[9]

Despite not joining, Cambodia has continued to actively engage in the work of the Convention on Cluster Munitions. It attended the convention’s First Meeting of States Parties in Vientiane, Lao PDR in November 2010 and the Second Meeting of States Parties in Beirut, Lebanon in September 2011 as an observer, providing statements on both occasions. Cambodia also participated in the convention’s first and second intersessional meetings held in Geneva in June 2011 and April 2012 respectively, making several statements at both meetings.

Convention on Conventional Weapons

Cambodia is a party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW). Cambodia attended the CCW’s Fourth Review Conference in November 2011, but did not express its views on the draft text of the proposed CCW protocol on cluster munitions. The Review Conference ended without reaching agreement on the draft protocol and with no proposals for continuing the negotiations in 2012, thus concluding the CCW’s work on cluster munitions.

Use, production, transfer, and stockpiling

Cambodia is not known to have used, produced, or exported cluster munitions. In June 2011, Cambodia stated, “Despite being confronted and threatened by forces, so far we have refrained from employing cluster munitions in our response.”[10]

The size and precise content of Cambodia’s stockpile of cluster munitions is not known. In December 2008, a Ministry of Defense official said that Cambodia has “some missile launchers that use cluster munitions that weigh more than 20 kg” and said there were also stockpiles of cluster munitions weighing 250kg left over from the 1980s that Cambodia intends to destroy.[11] Weapons with submunitions that weigh more than 20kg each are not defined as cluster munitions by the Convention on Cluster Munitions and are not prohibited. [12]

According to standard international reference publications, Cambodia also possesses BM-21 Grad 122mm surface-to-surface rocket launchers, but it is not known if the ammunition for these weapons includes versions with submunition payloads.[13] Cambodian officials have asked representatives from states that have joined the Convention, as well as NGOs, if BM-21 rocket launchers are banned by the Convention on Cluster Munitions. BM-21 multiple barrel rocket launchers are capable of firing rockets with a variety of warheads, one of which is a cargo warhead containing explosive submunitions. The CMC has informed Cambodia that the rocket delivery system itself is not prohibited by the convention, and the convention would allow use of the BM-21 with unitary munitions; however, under the terms of the convention, a BM-21 rocket launcher could not be used to deliver any rockets containing explosive submunitions.[14]