Commitment to the Convention on Cluster Munitions

Policy

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

In an April 2012 letter to the Monitor, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Erkki Tuomioja, reported on Finland’s decision to accede to the Mine Ban Treaty on 9 January 2012, but did not elaborate on the government’s policy towards joining the Convention on Cluster Munitions.[1] 

Previously, in March 2011, the Ministry for Foreign Affairs said that Finland regards the ban convention as “important from the humanitarian standpoint” and expressed support for its goals and “efforts towards its universalisation.”[2] The Ministry stated that Finland is monitoring implementation of the convention and undertaking a study of “the Defence Force’s capabilities and the international development work on cluster munitions, procurement options and costs.”[3]

This position was first articulated in a 2009 report by the government on “Finnish Security and Defense Policy,” which stated that while Finland is not a party to the Convention on Cluster Munitions, it nonetheless “significantly impacts Finland’s defence and its resource requirements.” According to the report, “Once a study relating to the Defence Forces’ capabilities has been completed,” the Convention on Cluster Munitions will be reassessed and the Cabinet Committee on Foreign and Security Policy will review the developments yearly.[4]

Finland has expressed its preference for cluster munitions to be tackled through the framework of the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW), but it is not known if this position will be reviewed following the November 2011 failure of the CCW to conclude a protocol on cluster munitions[5] (see Convention on Conventional Weapons section below).

Finland participated throughout the Oslo Process that created the convention, but consistently expressed reservations about the process and the convention text and was not supportive of a broad categorical ban on cluster munitions.[6] Finland joined the consensus adoption of the Convention on Cluster Munitions at the end of the negotiations in May 2008, but five months later announced that it would not sign the convention in Oslo in December 2008.[7] At the time, Minister of Defense Jyri Häkämies stated that, “cluster munitions play an important role in the credibility [and] autonomy…of Finnish defense.” The Finnish military claimed that due to costs and other factors it would not be possible to replace Finland’s stockpile of cluster munitions with alternative weapons within five to 10 years.[8] Finland has also cited security concerns over its border with Russia for its refusal to sign the convention.[9]

Finland has continued to participate in the work of the Convention on Cluster Munitions. It attended as an observer 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, but did not make statements at either meetings. Finland participated in the convention’s first intersessional meetings in Geneva in June 2011, but did not attend intersessional meetings held in April 2012.

Convention on Conventional Weapons

Finland is a party to CCW and attended the CCW’s Fourth Review Conference in Geneva in November 2011, where it supported the conclusion of a draft protocol on cluster munitions.

At the outset of the Review Conference, Finland said it shared concerns on the humanitarian consequences caused by cluster munitions and was convinced that a CCW protocol would make “a real difference on the ground” and “have a significant humanitarian impact globally.” Finland expressed support for the chair’s draft text of the proposed protocol, stating its view that “no more additional elements are needed to create a meaningful instrument.”[10]

During the conference, Finland opposed a proposal to include provisions requiring states to “endeavor to ensure” that submunitions would be equipped with self-deactivation mechanisms in addition to self-destruct or self-neutralization mechanisms.[11]

The Review Conference ended without reaching agreement on the draft protocol and with no official proposals to continue negotiations in 2012, thus marking the end of the CCW’s work on cluster munitions. At the conclusion of the conference, Finland expressed its support for continued work on cluster munitions in the CCW.[12]

Use, production, transfer, and stockpiling

According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, “Finland does not produce cluster munitions nor has is never [sic] used them.”[13]

In early 2005, Patria, a Finnish company, made arrangements to co-produce a 120mm cluster munition mortar projectile called MAT-120, which was developed and produced by the Spanish company Instalaza SA. The deal was cancelled in 2009 by Patria and the Finnish Defense Forces after Spain enacted a national prohibition on cluster munitions and signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions in 2008. During the development of the program, Patria imported to Finland 305 “live” MAT-120 mortar projectiles from Spain in 2005–2007 and also acquired 230 inert MAT-120 projectiles. As of July 2011, a total of 136 “live” MAT-120 projectiles remained in the custody of the Finnish Defense Forces; none of the MAT-120 projectiles imported to Finland were exported.[14]

In 2010, a Ministry of Defense official stated that information on the size and composition of Finland’s stockpile of cluster munitions was confidential.[15] Finland has acknowledged possessing one type of cluster munition, the DM-662 155mm artillery projectile, which contains 49 dual purpose improved conventional munition (DPICM) submunitions with back-up self-destruct fuzes.[16]

In 2006, the Ministry of Defense of the Netherlands announced the transfer of 18 Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS) launchers to Finland.[17] It was reported that 400 M26 rockets (each containing 644 M77 DPICM submunitions) were to be included in the sale for qualification testing and conversion into training rockets.[18]