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Lithuania

Last Updated: 18 July 2012

Cluster Munition Ban Policy

Commitment to the Convention on Cluster Munitions

Convention on Cluster Munitions status

State Party

Participation in Convention on Cluster Munitions meetings

Attended Second Meeting of States Parties in Beirut, Lebanon in September 2011 and intersessional meetings in Geneva in April 2012

Key developments

Became a State Party on 1 September 2011

Policy

The Republic of Lithuania signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 3 December 2008 and ratified on 24March 2011. The convention entered into force for Lithuania on 1 September 2011.

In May 2011, a Ministry of Foreign Affairs official informed the Monitor that according to Lithuania’s legal system, international treaties are applied directly and a specific implementation law for the convention is not needed.[1] Under national implementation measures, Lithuania has reported that articles of the Criminal Code of 26 September 2000 apply to the convention.[2]

On 30 March 2011, Lithuania submitted a voluntary Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 7 report, for calendar year 2010. On 30 March 2012, Lithuania submitted an annual updated report for calendar year 2011.

Lithuania actively participated in the Oslo Process that created the convention.[3] It has continued to engage in the work of the convention in 2011 and the first half of 2012. At the convention’s Second Meeting of States Parties in Beirut, Lebanon in September 2011, Lithuania said it was a “staunch supporter” of the universalization of the convention and called for greater efforts to increase momentum to make the treaty universal.[4]

At the UN General Assembly First Committee on Disarmament and International Security in October 2011, Lithuania called on all states that have not yet ratified and acceded to the Convention on Cluster Munitions to do so as soon as possible.[5]

Lithuania attended intersessional meetings of the convention in Geneva in June 2011 and April 2012.

Interpretive issues

Lithuania has not expressed its views on some important interpretive matters in relation to the convention’s provisions, such as the transit of cluster munitions through, and foreign stockpiling of cluster munitions on, the national territory of States Parties. It has also not expressed its views on assistance with prohibited acts, and investment in production. During the Oslo Process, Lithuania was vocal in calling for provisions on interoperability (joint military operations with states not party).[6] In May 2011, a Ministry of Foreign Affairs official informed the Monitor that Lithuania’s views on the interpretative issues were being discussed internally and said it hoped to express more concrete positions at the Second Meeting of States Parties to the Convention on Cluster Munitions in Beirut, Lebanon in September 2011.[7]

Lithuania is State Party to the Mine Ban Treaty.

Convention on Conventional Weapons

Lithuania is a party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) and actively supported CCW efforts in 2011 to adopt a draft protocol on cluster munitions.

In October 2011, Lithuania stated that while it is fully committed to the Convention on Cluster Munitions, it recognizes that some states, “including the largest producers and users” of cluster munitions, are not yet ready to join and therefore it is “convinced” that a CCW protocol on cluster munitions was “important as a further step in the direction of … a total prohibition in the future.”[8]

At the opening of the Fourth CCW Review Conference in November 2011, Lithuania expressed its view that, “despite tremendous efforts made,” the draft protocol text “still has significant shortcomings.” Nevertheless, Lithuania said it remained “convinced” that a CCW protocol would be “an additional step in seeking total prohibition of cluster munitions.”[9]

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

Lithuania has stated that it “does not possess cluster munitions and has never produced, used, stockpiled or transferred such weapons in the past.”[10]

 



[1] Email from Dovydas Špokauskas, Arms Control and Terrorism Prevention Department, Transatlantic Cooperation and Security Policy Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 5 May 2011.

[2] Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 7 Report, 30 March 2012, Form A; and Convention on Cluster Munitions voluntary Article 7 Report, 30 March 2011, Form A.

[3] For details on Lithuania’s policy and practice regarding cluster munitions through early 2009, see Human Rights Watch and Landmine Action, Banning Cluster Munitions: Government Policy and Practice (Ottawa: Mines Action Canada, May 2009), pp. 109–111.

[4] Statement by Gediminas Varvuolis, Director, Transatlantic Cooperation and Security Policy Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Convention on Cluster Munitions Second Meeting of States Parties, Beirut, 13 September 2011, http://www.clusterconvention.org/files/2011/09/statement_by_lithuania.pdf.

[5] Statement of Lithuania, UNGA First Committee on Disarmament and International Security, New York, 18 October 2011. Notes by AOAV.

[6] Statement of Lithuania, Wellington Conference on Cluster Munitions, Wellington, 18 February 2008. Lithuania emphasized that provisions on interoperability were necessary “to avoid legal ambiguities that in particular situations might cause very serious problems both on national and international levels.” It argued that without certain treaty language, activities such as participation in exercises or operations as part of a military alliance or participation in multilateral operations authorized by the UN could be considered to be in violation of the convention.

[7] Email from Špokauskas, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 5 May 2011.

[8] Statement by Varvuolis, Transatlantic Cooperation and Security Policy Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Convention on Cluster Munitions Second Meeting of States Parties, Beirut, 13 September 2011, http://www.clusterconvention.org/files/2011/09/statement_by_lithuania.pdf.

[9] Statement of Lithuania, CCW Fourth Review Conference, Geneva, 14 November 2011, http://www.unog.ch/80256EDD006B8954/(httpAssets)/5FACA03652B6597EC12579570048C9D8/$file/4thRevCon_LITHUANIA.pdf.

[10] Letter from Žygimantas Pavilionis, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 19 February 2009; and Convention on Cluster Munitions voluntary Article 7 Report, Forms B and D, 30 March 2011.