Commitment to the Convention on Cluster Munitions

Policy

The Republic of Guinea-Bissau signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 3 December 2008, ratified on 29 November 2010, and the convention entered into force for the country on 1 May 2011.

In May 2013, Guinea-Bissau stated that it considers existing laws sufficient to implement both the Convention on Cluster Munitions and the Mine Ban Treaty, and said that sanctions for any violations are addressed by the country’s penal code.[1]

As of 27 June 2014, Guinea-Bissau still had not submitted its initial Article 7 transparency measures report for the Convention on Cluster Munitions, originally due by 28 October 2011. In September 2013, Guinea-Bissau indicated that it was preparing the report.[2] In May 2013, it said the report had not been submitted due to lack of information on stockpiled cluster munitions.[3]

Guinea-Bissau participated in some meetings of the Oslo Process that created the convention, including the formal negotiations in Dublin in May 2008, where it supported other African states in opposing efforts to weaken the convention text and joined in the consensus adoption of the text.[4]

Guinea-Bissau has continued to engage in the work of the Convention on Cluster Munitions. It has participated in every Meeting of States Parties of the convention, including the Fourth Meeting of States Parties in Lusaka, Zambia in September 2013. Guinea-Bissau has attended every intersessional meeting of the convention in Geneva, including those held in April 2014.

Guinea-Bissau participated in a regional meeting of the convention in Lomé, Togo in May 2013, where it condemned the Syrian government’s use of cluster munitions.[5]

Guinea-Bissau voted in favor of UN General Assembly (UNGA) Resolution 68/182 on 18 December 2013, which expressed “outrage” at Syrian government’s “continued widespread and systematic gross violations of human rights” including the use of cluster munitions.[6]

Guinea-Bissau is a State Party to the Mine Ban Treaty. It is also party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons.

Guinea-Bissau has yet to provide 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.

Use, production, transfer, and stockpiling

In 2008, Guinea-Bissau stated that it does not use or produce cluster munitions.[7] Guinea-Bissau possesses cluster munitions of Soviet origin, but the size and content of the current stockpile is not known.[8] In June 2011, the director of Guinea-Bissau’s National Mine Action Coordination Center (Centro Nacional de Coordenação da Acção Anti-Minas, CAAMI) said that it was conducting an inventory of the quantities, types, and origins of the stockpile held at an air force base in Bissau City.[9] RBK-series air-dropped bombs and PTAB-2.5 submunitions were among munitions ejected by an explosion at the Paiol de Bra ammunition storage facility on the outskirts of Bissau City in 2000.[10]

Under Article 3 of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, Guinea-Bissau is required to destroy all its stockpiled cluster munitions as soon as possible, but not later than 1 May 2019.

In September and May 2013, Guinea-Bissau stated that it had requested assistance from the UN Mine Action Service (UNMAS) to destroy its stockpile, but the political situation in the country had stalled the process.[11] In September 2013, it appealed to States Parties to assist stockpiling destruction efforts, stating that it “alone cannot address this challenge, we need solidarity of international community, and from others States Parties and not parties.” Guinea-Bissau said that a February 2011 technical assessment by UNMAS found the weapons held at armed forces locations to be “stockpiled in very bad conditions.”[12] In the absence of an Article 7 report, Guinea-Bissau has not indicated if it will retain cluster munitions for training purposes as permitted by Article 3 of the Convention on Cluster Munitions.