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Montenegro
Cluster Munition Ban Policy
Commitment to the Convention on Cluster Munitions
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Convention on Cluster Munitions status |
State Party |
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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 |
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Key developments |
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Policy
The Republic of Montenegro signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 3 December 2008 and ratified on 25 January 2010. It was among the first 30 ratifications that triggered the convention’s entry into force on 1 August 2010.
Montenegro has reported that it considers existing national legislation as sufficient to implement the convention.[1]The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has statedthat Article 9 of the country’s constitution stipulates that ratified and announced international treaties and generally accepted rules of international law are an “integral part of the domestic legislation, and have supremacy over domestic legislation and are directly implemented when dealing with issues differently than domestic legislation.”[2]
Montenegro submitted its initial Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 7 report on 27 January 2011.[3]As of 1 June 2012, Montenegro had yet to submit its second annual Article 7 report, due 30 April 2012.[4]
Montenegro participated actively in the Oslo Process thatled to the creation of the convention.[5] Since 2008, it has continued to engage in the work of the convention.Montenegro attended the convention’s Second Meeting of States Parties in Beirut, Lebanon in September 2011, the intersessional meetings of the convention in Geneva in April 2012,
At the April 2012 intersessional meetings, Montenegro again confirmed its commitment to the principles of the convention, and said it fully supports universalization efforts and effective implementation of the convention.[6]
Montenegro participated in a regional workshop on the implementation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions held by the Regional Arms Control Verification and Implementation Assistance Centre and the Croatian Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs in Rakitje, Croatia from 16-18 May 2012.
Montenegro has expressed its views on a number of important issues relating to the interpretation and implementation of the convention. On the issue of the prohibition on assistance with prohibited acts in joint military operations with states not party, Montenegro has elaborated its understanding that “the participation in the planning or conducting of operations, exercises or any other military activities by the armed forces of Montenegro, or by any of its nationals, if carried out in conjunction with armed forces of the non-State Parties to the Convention on Cluster Munitions, which engage in activities prohibited under the Convention, does not in any way imply an assistance, encouragement or inducement as referred to in subparagraph 1(c) of the Convention.”[7] Montenegro has also stated that it “does not intend to invest in the production of cluster munitions.”[8]
Montenegro is a party to the Mine Ban Treaty.
Montenegro is a party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) and attended the CCW’s Fourth Review Conference in Geneva in November 2011, but did not actively engage in the negotiations on cluster munitions. 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
Montenegro is not known to have used cluster munitions, but cluster munitions were used by NATO forces in air strikes on Serbian and Montenegrin military positions during the Kosovo conflict in 1999.In January 2011, Montenegro confirmed that there were no cluster munition production facilities in Montenegro.[9]
Montenegro inherited a stockpile of BL-755 cluster bombs upon the dissolution of the State of Serbia and Montenegro.[10]On 5 October 2010, Montenegro completed the destruction of its entire stockpile of cluster munitions. The stockpile of 353 BL-755 cluster bombs containing a total of 51,891 MK1 submunitions was dismantled and then destroyed over a two-year period at facilities near the town of Nikšićas part of a technical agreement with the United States (US) for the disposal of surplus weapons and ammunition.[11]
According to its initial Article 7 report, Montenegro has not retained any cluster munitions for training and research purposes.[12] Previously, in April 2010, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that Montenegro had no intentions of retaining any cluster munitions.[13]
[1] It reported that after ratifying, the convention “became an integral part of the criminal legislation of Montenegro.” Convention on Cluster Munition Article 7 Report, Form A, 27 January 2011.
[2]The ministry also cited two articles from the Statute Book of Montenegro as relevant to implementation of the convention: Article 432 (“Use of unlawful means of combat”) and Article 433 (“Illegal production of weapons forbidden to be used”), both of which contain penal sanctions. Response to Monitor questionnaire byMajaBoskovic, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 16 April 2010.
[3] The report covers the period from 1 August 2010 to 27 January 2011.
[4] Montenegro submitted its initial Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 7 report on 27 January 2011, covering the period from 1 August 2010 to 27 January 2011.
[5]For detail on Montenegro’s policy and practice regarding cluster munitions through early 2009, see Human Rights Watch and Landmine Action, Banning ClusterMunitions: Government Policy and Practice (Ottawa: Mines Action Canada, May 2009), pp. 121–122.
[6] Statement by PredragRakočević, Advisor, Ministry of Defence, Convention on Cluster Munitions Intersessional Meetings, Geneva, 16 April 2012.
[7]Letter from Ambassador MiloradŠćepanović, Permanent Representative of Montenegro to the UN in New York, on behalf of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integrations, Podgorica, to Mary Wareham, Senior Advisor, Arms Division,HRW, 4 May 2011, no. 0715-42/3-2. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed this view previously to the Monitor in April 2010, stating that “participation in planning or implementation of operations, exercise or other military activities by the armed forces of Monte Negro, performed in joint actions with armed forces of states not parties to the CCM, undertaking in activities prohibited by the CCM, are by itself not assistance, encouragement or initiative [sic] in accordance with Article 1, par (c) of the Convention.” Response to Monitor questionnaire byBoskovic, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 16 April 2010.
[8]Letter from Amb.MiloradŠćepanović, on behalf of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integrations, Podgorica, to Wareham, HRW 4 May 2011, no. 0715-42/3-2.
[9] Convention on Cluster Munition Article 7 Report, Form E, 27 January 2011.
[10] During the Berlin Conference on the Destruction of Cluster Munitions, Montenegro confirmed that it had 353 BL-755 CBU in its stockpiles from the former Yugoslav People’s Army.Statement of Montenegro, Berlin Conference on the Destruction of Cluster Munitions, 25 June 2009. See also, South Eastern and Eastern Europe Clearinghouse for Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons, “Ammunition Technical Assessment of Montenegro (First Edition),” 4 March 2007, p. 39. The BL-755 cluster bombs were produced by the United Kingdom.
[11]For a description of the destruction process see CMC, Cluster Munition Monitor 2011(Ottawa: Mines Action Canada, October 2011), pp. 138-140,http://bit.ly/KnN00G. See also: Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 7 Report, Form B, 27 January 2011.
[12] Convention on Cluster Munition Article 7 Report, Form C, 27 January 2011.
[13] Response to Monitor questionnaire byBoskovic, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 16 April 2010.
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