Commitment to the Convention on Cluster Munitions

Policy

The Republic of Peru signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 3 December 2008.

As of July 2012, Peru had completed its domestic ratification process for the Convention on Cluster Munitions, but has not yet deposited its instrument of ratification with the United Nations in New York. On 4 July, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs informed the local representative of the CMC that the plan is for the President of Peru, OllantaHumala Tasso, to deposit the instrument in September 2012 during the annual United Nations Treaty Event held in conjunction with the opening of the UN General Assembly.[1]

Following inter-agency review of the convention in 2009 and 2010, draft ratification legislationwas introduced in Congress in late 2010.[2]On 18 April 2011, the Committee on Foreign Relations issued a report recommending approval of the ratification legislation.[3]The National Congress approved ratification of the convention on 14 March 2012through Legislative Resolution No 29-843.[4] On 25 April 2012, Decree 021-2012 approving ratification was signed by both President OllantaHumala and Minister of Foreign AffairsRafael RoncaglioloOrbegoso,and then published in the official journal El Peruanothe next day.[5]

As one of the small core group of nations that took responsibility for the Oslo Process that created the Convention on Cluster Munitions, Peruhosted an international conference on cluster munitions in Lima in May 2007.[6] Since 2008, Peru has continued to support the convention. Peru attended the convention’s Second Meeting of States Parties in Beirut, Lebanon in September 2011, as well as intersessional meetings held in Geneva in April 2012, providing updates on ratification and stockpile destruction at both meetings.

Peru is a State Party to the Mine Ban Treaty.

Convention on Conventional Weapons

Peru is a party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) andengaged in CCW work on cluster munitions in 2011. At the outset of the CCW’s Fourth Review Conference in November 2011, Peru expressed concern at the chair’s draft text and noted its desire for a protocol that is “balanced” and does not undermine the Convention on Cluster Munitions.[7]

Towards the end of the negotiations, Peru described the chair’s draft text as “a step forward” and said it supported efforts to reach consensus on a CCW protocol on cluster munitions.[8]Peru was the only Oslo Process core group member that did not to associate itself with or jointhe group of 50 countries that issued a joint statement on the final day of the negotiations declaring that there was no consensus on the draft protocol text and that it was not acceptable from a humanitarian standpoint.[9]

The Review Conference concluded without agreeing on a protocol, thus marking the end of the CCW’s work on cluster munitions.

Use, production, transfer, and stockpiling

Peru is not known to have ever used or produced cluster munitions.

In May 2007, the Peruvian Minister of Defense publicly disclosed that the Peruvian Air Force possesses stockpiles of CB-470 cluster bombs of South African origin, BME-330 cluster bombs of Spanish origin, and RBK-500 cluster bombs of Russian/Soviet origin.[10]The status and precise composition of the current stockpile is not known.

In 2011, Peru said that it was conducting an inventory and working on plans for the destruction of its stockpiled cluster munitions.[11]In April 2012, Peru confirmed that it was working on the stockpile destruction plan and “calculating the amount ofresources, both national and international cooperation, which will be required to graduallydestroy all stockpiles within the convention’s deadlines.”Peru noted that personnel responsiblefor the destruction process would require training.[12]

Retention

Peru hassaid that it intends to retain cluster munitions for the purposes of trainingin detection, clearance and destruction techniques, but has not yet identified the number of cluster munitions to be retained.[13]