About Us
Our Research Products
Niger
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, intersessional meetings in Geneva inApril 2012, and a regional conference in Accra, Ghana in May 2012 |
Policy
The Republic of Nigersigned the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 3 December 2008 and ratified on 2 June 2009.It was among the first 30 ratifications that triggered the convention’s entry into force on 1 August 2010.
As of 1 June 2012, Niger had yet to submit its initial Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 7 report, which was due 28 January 2011.The status of national measures to implement the ban convention, such as domestic legislation, is thereforenot known. Previously, in November 2010, a government official informed the CMC that Niger would begin to prepare a national implementation law after elections scheduled to be held in 2011.[1]
Niger participated in the Oslo Process that produced the convention and supported a comprehensive treaty without exception.[2] Niger has continued to engage in the work of the convention. It attended the Second Meeting of States Parties in Beirut, Lebanon in September 2011 and intersessional meetings in Geneva in April 2012, but did not make any statements.
Nigerparticipatedin the Accra Regional Conference on the Universalization of the Convention onCluster Munitions in Ghana in May 2012, where it made a statement and endorsed the Accra Universalization Action Plan.
Niger has not yet stated its views 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, and the prohibition on investment in production of cluster munitions.
Niger is party to Mine Ban Treaty.
Niger is a party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) and attended the CCW Fourth Review Conference in Geneva in November 2011, where it opposed the conclusion of a draft protocol that would have permitted continued use of cluster munitions. Niger was one of 50 countries that endorsed a joint statement on the final day of the Review Conference stating that there was no consensus for adopting a proposed CCW protocol that would have permitted continued use of cluster munitions.[3]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
Niger has confirmed that it has never used, produced, transferred, or stockpiled cluster munitions.[4]
[1] CMC meeting with AbdouSeydouSayni, Vice-President, National Commission for the Collection and Control of Illicit Weapons (Commission Nationale pour la Collecte et le Contrôle des ArmesIllicites, CNCCAI), Lao PDR, 9–12 November 2010.
[2]For details on Niger’s cluster munition policy and practice through early 2009, see Human Rights Watch and Landmine Action, Banning Cluster Munitions:Government Policy and Practice (Ottawa: Mines Action Canada, May 2009), pp. 133–134.
[3]Joint Statement read by Costa Rica, on behalf of Afghanistan, Angola, Austria, Bolivia, Burkina Faso, Chile, Colombia, Congo, Costa Rica, Democratic Republic of Congo, Denmark, Djibouti, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Ghana, Guatemala, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Haiti, Holy See, Honduras, Iceland, Laos, Lebanon, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Mali, Mexico, Mozambique, Namibia, Nicaragua, Niger, Nigeria, Norway, Panama, Paraguay, Senegal, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sudan, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, Uruguay, Venezuela, Zambia and Zimbabwe. CCW Fourth Review Conference, Geneva, 25 November 2011. Notes by AOAV.
[4]Letter No. 001581 from AichatouMindaoudou, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, 3 March 2009.
Send us your feedback on this profile
Send the Monitor your feedback by filling out this form. Responses will be channeled to editors, but will not be available online. Click if you would like to send an attachment. If you are using webmail, send attachments to .