Cote d'Ivoire

Commitment to the Convention on Cluster Munitions

The Republic of Côte d’Ivoire signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 4 December 2008 and ratified on 12 March 2012. The convention will enter into force for Côte d’Ivoire on 1 September 2012.

The status of national implementation measures to enforce the convention is not known.

Côte d’Ivoire’s initial Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 7 report is due by 28 February 2013.

Côte d’Ivoire’s ratification slowed after contested elections in November 2010 led to conflict. In September 2011, Côte d’Ivoire said the process to ratify the convention would accelerate after the Chamber of Representatives was re-established at the end of 2011.[1] Côte d’Ivoire deposited its instrument of ratification with the United Nations in New York on 12 March 2009.

Côte d’Ivoire participated in several meetings of the Oslo Process that created the Convention on Cluster Munitions, including the formal negotiations in Dublin in May 2008.[2] Côte d’Ivoire attended the convention’s Second Meeting of States Parties in Beirut, Lebanon in September 2011, where it gave an update on its ratification.[3] It did not attend intersessional meetings of the convention in Geneva in April 2012.

Côte d’Ivoire has not yet made its views known on certain important issues related to interpretation and implementation of the convention, including the prohibition on transit, the prohibition on assistance during joint military operations with states not party that may use cluster munitions, the prohibition on foreign stockpiling of cluster munitions, the prohibition on investment in production of cluster munitions, and the retention of cluster munitions and submunitions for training and development purposes.

Côte d’Ivoire is party to the Mine Ban Treaty.

Côte d’Ivoire is not a party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons.

Use, production, and transfer

Côte d’Ivoire has stated that it has never used, produced, or transferred cluster munitions.[4]

Stockpiling and destruction

At the Second Meeting of States Parties in September 2011, Côte d’Ivoire said that air-launched cluster munitions had been discovered at three sites controlled by the armed forces and were awaiting destruction.[5]

Under Article 3 of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, Côte d’Ivoire is required to declare and destroy all stockpiled cluster munitions under its jurisdiction or control as soon as possible, but no later than 1 September 2020.

Côte d’Ivoire informed States Parties in September 2011 that it requires financial and technical support from the international community to destroy its stockpile of cluster munition.[6]