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Zambia
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, intersessional meetings in Geneva in April 2012, and regional conference in Accra, Ghana in May 2012 |
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Key developments |
Submitted Article 7 report in April 2012, national implementation legislation in preparation |
Policy
The Republic of Zambia signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 3 December 2008 and ratified on 12 August 2009. It was among the first 30 ratifications that triggered entry into force of the convention on 1 August 2010.
In May 2012, Zambia stated that its Cabinet is considering draft legislation to implement the Convention on Cluster Munitions and said “we are confident that the Convention will be domesticated very soon.”[1] Zambia submitted its initial Article 7 transparency report for the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 21 January 2011.[2] It provided an annual updated report on 30 April 2012.[3]
Zambia played an influential leadership role during the Oslo Process that created the Convention on Cluster Munitions, including the hosting of an African regional conference in Livingstone from March to April 2008 that helped generate broad and united support from many African states for a comprehensive convention.[4]
Zambia has continued to play an active role in work relating to the Convention on Cluster Munitions in 2011 and the first half of 2012. Zambia attended the convention’s Second Meeting of States Parties in Beirut, Lebanon, where it was made co-coordinator on the General Status and Operation of the Convention together with the Holy See. Zambia attended the convention’s intersessional meetings in Geneva in June 2011 and April 2012.
Zambia assisted Ghana with the organizing of the Accra Regional Conference on the Universalization of the Convention on Cluster Munitions held in Ghana on 28-30 May 2012 and it endorsed the Accra Universalization Action Plan issued by the conference. During the conference, Zambia expressed its hope that Sub-Saharan Africa will become the first region in the world to achieve full universalization of the Convention on Cluster Munitions and appealed to all states that have yet to ratify or accede to the convention to do so as soon as possible.[5]
Interpretive issues
Zambia has expressed its views on some important matters related to the interpretation and implementation of the convention. In May 2008, during the convention’s negotiations, Zambia expressed concern about the proposed article on “interoperability” (joint military operations with states not party) and stated that it understood that the provisions for interoperability in Article 21 did not provide a loophole for States Parties to allow the transit or indefinite stockpiling of cluster munitions in their territories.[6] In April 2009, the Minister of Foreign Affairs stated that Zambia does not believe that States Parties to the convention should “in any way assist the use [or] transfer of cluster bombs within or without their territories in the name of joint operations.”[7] In 2009, the Zambian Anti-Personnel Mine Action Centre’s (ZMAC’s) director stated that Zambia believed that the prohibition on assistance prohibits investment in the production of cluster munitions.[8]
Zambia is a party to the Mine Ban Treaty.
Convention on Conventional Weapons
Zambia is not a party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW), but it participated in the CCW’s Fourth Review Conference in November 2011 as an observer. During the negotiations of the chair’s draft text, Zambia was part of a group of states opposed to the adoption of a protocol permitting continued use of cluster munitions.
On the final day of the conference, Zambia joined 50 other states in a joint statement declaring that the chair’s draft text does not fully address the fundamental concerns and is unacceptable from a humanitarian standpoint, and therefore does not command consensus.[9]
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.
Use, production, transfer, and stockpiling
Zambia has reported that it “has never produced cluster munitions” and “has no production facilities for cluster munitions,” and confirmed it “does not stockpile cluster munitions” including for training or research.[10] Zambia has also stated that it has not transferred cluster munitions.[11]
[1] Statement of Zambia, Accra Regional Conference on the Universalization of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, 29 May 2012, http://www.clusterconvention.org/files/2012/06/Session-III_Statement_Zambia.pdf.
[2] The report covers the period from 1 August 2010 to 21 January 2011.
[3] The report is for the period from 22 January 2011 to 30 April 2012 and states that all of the information remains unchanged from the initial report.
[4] For details on Zambia’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. 181–183.
[5] Together with the with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and of Cooperation of the Republic of Togo, Zambia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs assisted Ghana’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration to organize the Accra Conference. http://www.clusterconvention.org/work-programme/accra-regional-conference-on-the-universalization-of-the-ccm-28-30-may-2012/.
[6] Statement of Zambia, Committee of the Whole, Dublin Diplomatic Conference on Cluster Munitions, 30 May 2008. Notes by Landmine Action.
[7] Letter MFA/104/22/148 from Kabinga J. Pande, Minister of Foreign Affairs, 9 April 2009.
[8] Statement by Sheila Mweemba, ZMAC, National Committee on Anti-Personnel Landmines (NCAL) Meeting, Lusaka, 11 September 2009. Notes by the Zambia Campaign to Ban Landmines (ZCBL).
[9] 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, Ecuador, El Salvador, Ghana, Guatemala, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Haiti, Holy See, Honduras, Iceland, Lao PDR, Lebanon, Lesotho, Liechtenstein, 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. List confirmed in email from Bantan Nugroho, Head of the CCW Implementation Support Unit, UN Department for Disarmament Affairs, 1 June 2012.
[10] Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 7 Report, Forms A-E (inclusive), 21 January 2011. Previously, in 2009, ZMAC’s director stated that Zambia had never produced and did not possess a stockpile of cluster munitions. Statement by Mweemba, ZMAC, NCAL Meeting, Lusaka, 11 September 2009. Notes by the ZCBL.
[11] Statement of Zambia, Accra Regional Conference on the Universalization of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, 28 May 2012, http://www.clusterconvention.org/files/2012/06/Session-II_Statement-Zambia.pdf.
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