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Albania
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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National implementation legislation |
Declared in 2013 that existing legislation is sufficient to ensure implementation of the convention |
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Participation in Convention on Cluster Munitions meetings |
Attended Fourth Meeting of States Parties in Lusaka, Zambia in September 2013, intersessional meetings in Geneva in April 2014, and a regional workshop in Croatia in April 2014 |
Policy
The Republic of Albania signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 3 December 2008 and ratified on 16 June 2009. It was among the first 30 ratifications that triggered entry into force of the convention on 1 August 2010.
In 2013, Albania declared that it considers existing legislation sufficient to implement the convention’s provisions.[1]
Albania provided its initial Article 7 report for the convention in January 2011 and annual updated reports in April 2012 and April 2013.[2] As of 17 June 2014, Albania had yet to submit its latest updated annual report due by 30 April 2014.
Albania actively participated in the Oslo Process that led to the creation of the convention and made many strong contributions from the perspective of a state affected by cluster munitions.[3]
Albania continued to engage in the work of the convention in 2013 and the first half of 2014. It attended the Fourth Meeting of States Parties in Lusaka, Zambia in September 2013 and the convention’s intersessional meetings in Geneva in April 2014. Albania chaired sessions on stockpile destruction and retention at both meetings in its capacity as co-coordinator together with Spain. At the intersessional meetings, Albania gave a presentation on its landmine stockpile destruction experience.
Albania also attended a regional workshop on the implementation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions and Mine Ban Treaty in Croatia in April 2014.[4]
At the Fourth Meeting of States Parties, Albania condemned for the second time the Syrian government’s use of cluster munitions, stating that it “would like to strongly condemn once more the use of cluster munitions, which causes unacceptable harm to innocent civilians, by any State, Party or not, to the Convention.”[5]
Albania has also voted in favor of recent UN General Assembly (UNGA) resolutions condemning Syria’s cluster munition use, including Resolution 68/182 on 18 December 2013, which expressed “outrage” at the Syrian government’s “continued widespread and systematic gross violations of human rights…including those involving the use of…cluster munitions.”[6]
Albania 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, the prohibition on investment in production of cluster munitions, and the need for retention of cluster munitions and submunitions for training and development purposes.
Albania is a State Party to the Mine Ban Treaty. It is also party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons.
Production, transfer, use, and stockpiling
Albania has declared that it has not produced or stockpiled cluster munitions.[7] In December 2008, Albania stated that it has never used or transferred cluster munitions.[8]
Cluster munitions were used in Albania in 1999 by forces of the former Socialist Republic of Yugoslavia and by states participating in the NATO operation.[9] In December 2009, Albania announced it had completed the clearance of all known cluster munition remnants on its territory.[10]
[1] Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 7 Report, Form A, 30 April 2013.
[2] The initial report is for the period from 1 August 2010 to 31 December 2010. The annual updated report provided in April 2013 covers calendar year 2012, while the report submitted in April 2012 covers calendar year 2011.
[3] For details on Albania’s cluster munition policy and practice up to early 2009, see Human Rights Watch and Landmine Action, Banning Cluster Munitions: Government Policy and Practice (Ottawa: Mines Action Canada, May 2009), pp. 28–29.
[4] This workshop was organized by the Regional Arms Control Verification and Implementation Assistance Centre (RACVIAC) Centre for Security Cooperation in Southeast Europe and the government of Germany, the government of Croatia’s Office for Demining, and the Croatian Mine Action Centre (CROMAC) in Zadar, Croatia.
[5] Statement by Fatos Reka, Head of Security Unit, General Directorate of International Organizations and Global Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Convention on Cluster Munitions Fourth Meeting of States Parties, Lusaka, 10 September 2013. Previously, at the convention’s intersessional meetings in April 2013, Albania strongly condemned “the use of cluster munitions in any conflicts by causing unacceptable harm to innocent civilians” and commended and encouraged all “states to continue their tireless endeavours to end the harm caused by cluster munitions.”
[6] “Situation of human rights in the Syrian Arab Republic,” UNGA Resolution A/RES/68/182, 18 December 2013. Albania voted in favor of a similar resolution on 15 May 2013.
[7] Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 7 Report, Forms B and E, 27 January 2011.
[8] Statement by Lulzim Basha, Convention on Cluster Munitions Signing Conference, Oslo, 3 December 2008.
[9] Ibid.; and Rosy Cave, Anthea Lawson, and Andrew Sheriff, Cluster Munitions in Albania and Lao PDR: The Humanitarian and Socio-Economic Impact (Geneva: UN Institute for Disarmament Research, 2006), p. 7.
[10] Statement by Arian Starova, Mine Ban Treaty Second Review Conference, Cartagena, 3 December 2009; and Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 7 Report, Form F, 27 January 2011.
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