Commitment to the Convention on Cluster Munitions

Policy

Japan signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 3 December 2008 and ratified on 14 July 2009. It was among the first 30 ratifications to trigger the convention’s entry into force on 1 August 2010.

Japan’s national implementation legislation, Law No. 85 enacted on 17 July 2009, bans production and possession of cluster munitions and affirms Japan’s obligation to dispose of its stockpiled cluster munitions.[1] Japan has said that the use of cluster munitions is prohibited under the Explosive Control Act and other laws, while transfer is regulated by laws governing foreign exchange and trade.[2]

Japan submitted its initial Article 7 report for the Convention on Cluster Munitions in January 2011 and has provided annual updated reports since, most recently in April 2014.[3]

Japan participated in the Oslo Process that created the convention and its position evolved significantly over time to allow it to join in the consensus adoption of the convention in Dublin in May 2008.[4]

Japan has continued to actively engage in the work of the Convention on Cluster Munitions since 2008. It has participated in all of the convention’s Meetings of States Parties, including the convention’s Fourth Meeting of States Parties in Lusaka, Zambia in September 2013, where it made statements on stockpile destruction and cooperation and assistance. Japan has attended every intersessional meeting of the convention in Geneva, including in April 2014, where it made several interventions.

Japan has continued to promote universalization of the Convention on Cluster Munitions after stepping down as co-coordinator. At the UN General Assembly (UNGA) First Committee on Disarmament and International Security in October 2013, Japan called on states that are not party to the Convention on Cluster Munitions to accede “as soon as possible and join our collective efforts towards ending the suffering caused by these weapons.”[5]

Japan has condemned Syria’s cluster munition use on several occasions. At the UNGA First Committee in October 2013, Japan stated, “We are deeply concerned by the reported use of cluster munitions. The use of these weapons by any actor is entirely unacceptable, since they not only pose grave dangers and harm to civilians during and after conflicts, but can also leave a lasting socio-economic impact for many years or even decades.”[6] Japan has voted in favor of UNGA resolutions condemning the Syrian government’s cluster munition use, including Resolution 68/182 on 18 December 2013, which expressed “outrage” at Syria’s “continued widespread and systematic gross violations of human rights…including those involving the use of…cluster munitions.”[7]

The Japan Campaign to Ban Landmines (JCBL) works in support of the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

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

Interpretive issues

Japan has provided its views on certain important issues related to interpretation and implementation of the convention. The government maintains that United States (US) military bases in Japan, being under US jurisdiction and control, are not on Japanese territory and that therefore the possession of cluster munitions by US forces does not violate the national law or the convention (see US cluster munitions in Japan section below).

Also, according to the government, Clause 4.4 of Law No. 85 allows Japanese nationals, both civilians and members of the Japan Self-Defense Forces (JSDF), to transport cluster munitions that are owned by the US.[8] In April 2013, a JSDF representative said that the JSDF had not been involved in any transportation of US cluster munitions.[9]

During the negotiations in May 2008, Japan was one of the strongest backers of a provision on “interoperability” or joint military operations with states not party that may use cluster munitions (Article 21). Japan has been reluctant to publicly discuss its views on the convention’s prohibition on assistance during joint military operations.[10]

In a June 2008 US State Department cable made public by Wikileaks in June 2011, a senior Japanese official apparently told the US that Japan interprets the convention as enabling the US and Japan to continue to engage in military cooperation and conduct operations that involve US-owned cluster munitions, including but not limited to “Transportation and storage of US-owned CM [cluster munitions] by Japan Self Defense Forces or Japanese civilian personnel; Movement of additional CM into US military facilities and JSDF bases; and Stockpiling and handling of CM at civilian ports during contingencies.” The Japanese official reportedly confirmed that “Japanese civilian and Self Defense Forces personnel can transport CM [cluster munitions] in Japan as long as they do not take legal ownership of the CM” and “the United States can move CM into and out of Japan, and within Japan, as long as Japanese entities and personnel are not taking title to the CM.” [11]

A December 2008 US cable made public by Wikileaks in September 2011 states that Japan “recognizes U.S. forces in Japan are not under Japan’s control and hence the GOJ [Government of Japan] cannot compel them to take action or to penalize them.” According to the cable, a senior Japanese official reportedly “explained that the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) allows the United States to stockpile and store CM on JSDF bases, while Article 21.3 of the CCM [Convention on Cluster Munitions] allows JSDF personnel to handle U.S. CM and U.S. forces and JSDF to engage in bilateral operations and activities involving CM. The critical overlap of U.S. forces activities with the CCM implementing legislation that METI [Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry] is drafting is the contracting of Japanese companies and nationals by U.S. forces to transport and handle CM in Japan.” The cable notes that Japan “is interpreting Article 21.4(a) to mean Japan is obligated to not allow U.S. forces to develop, produce or acquire CM in Japan.”[12]

Investment

On the prohibition on investment in the production of cluster munitions, Japan stated in June 2011 that “there is no clear agreement on financing of cluster munition production” and noted “it is up to each state party to determine with their private sector” concerning the question of disinvestment.[13] In 2009, the government said that it has not studied investment and loans by Japanese financial institutions to private firms producing cluster munitions, but said it would try to keep financial institutions informed of the convention and request that they carry out banking services in keeping with it.[14]

In 2010, Japan’s three largest banks said they would refrain from financing the manufacture of cluster munitions: Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, and Mizuho Bank.[15] According to the 2012 NGO report “Worldwide Investments in Cluster Munitions: a shared responsibility,” all three of these financial institutions remain involved in investments in manufacturers of cluster munitions.[16]

In 2010, the Japanese Bankers Association said that it had instructed its members to stop financing the production of cluster munitions.[17] In January 2011, JCBL sent a questionnaire to 17 financial institutions reported to invest in cluster munition production. Two companies, Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities Co. Ltd. and Nippon Life Insurance Company, responded that they had halted investment in cluster munition producers. Nine companies said they maintained investments and six did not confirm or deny investing in cluster munition producers.[18]

Use, production, and transfer

Japan has not used cluster munitions, but it produced and imported the weapons in the past. Japan has declared that three private companies that formerly produced cluster munitions have been decommissioned: IHI Aerospace Co. Ltd. in Gunma prefecture, and Ishikawa Seisakusho Ltd. and Komatsu Ltd. in Ishikawa prefecture.[19]

Stockpiling

In the initial Article 7 report provided in January 2011, Japan declared a stockpile of 14,011 cluster munitions of four different types containing 2,029,393 explosive submunitions. No change in the number of stockpiled cluster munitions was reported in the 2012 and 2013 Article 7 reports, but the April 2014 report declares a significantly reduced stockpile of 4,481 cluster munitions and 599,603 submunitions, after destruction efforts.[20] This represents just under one-third of the original stockpile (32 percent of all munitions and 30 percent of submunitions).

Cluster munitions declared stockpiled by Japan (as of 31 December 2013)

Stockpile destruction

Under Article 3 of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, Japan is required to declare and destroy (or ensure the destruction of) all stockpiled cluster munitions under its jurisdiction and control as soon as possible, but not later than 1 August 2018.

In September 2013, Japan announced to states parties that the destruction of the stockpiled cluster munitions had started that month. It said the contract “calls for the destruction of all stockpiles to be completed by the end of 2015.”[21] Japan’s Ministry of Defense concluded the contract with private company Nammo Demil Division in August 2011 to destroy the stockpile at demilitarization facilities in Norway (Nammo NAD) and Germany (Nammo Buck).[22] 

According to the 2014 Article 7 report, Japan had destroyed 8,718 cluster munitions and 939,222 submunitions by the end of 2013, as shown by the following table.

Cluster munitions destroyed by Japan (as of 31 December 2013)

In 2014, Japan reported that a total of 4,481 cluster munitions with 599,603 submunitions still to be destroyed as of the end of 2013 in addition to another 602 M26 rockets and 210 CBU-87 bombs were handed over to the contractor for destruction.[23] This makes a remaining total of 5,293 cluster munitions left to be destroyed.

According to the 2014 Article 7 report, the M26 rockets were destroyed at Nammo’s facilities in Germany. The destruction process involved separation of the M77 submunitions, which were then incinerated at a facility equipped with contamination reduction devices.[24]

The other types of cluster munitions are being destroyed at Nammo’s facilities in Norway in a detonation chamber equipped with contamination clearance devices.[25] A further 812 cluster munitions have been transferred to the company undertaking destruction.[26]

In 2011, Japan reported that a total of JPY2.8 billion (approximately US$32 million) was budgeted in Japan’s 2011 fiscal year for the stockpile destruction.[27]

Retention

In its initial Article 7 report, Japan declared that it has no cluster munitions retained for training, development, or countermeasure purposes.[28] In September 2013, Japan affirmed that “we have no plan to retain any cluster munitions in accordance with Article 3.6” of the Convention on Cluster Munitions.[29]

US cluster munitions in Japan

The US stockpiles cluster munitions on its bases in Japan. In 2009, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that the US had not disclosed information to the Japanese government about the type, number, function, and locations of the stockpiles.[30] Local media in Okinawa have reported that US forces in Japan have dropped cluster munitions on bombing ranges during training exercises.[31] In 2010, media reports published photographs of cluster bombs that appeared to be mounted on US fighter aircraft.[32] In the Diet (parliament), Japan’s Minister of Foreign Affairs stated that the government had sent an inquiry to the US military and the US responded that it does not disclose information on the details of its training program.[33] In June 2010, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated in media reports that it is not prohibited for the US to use or retain cluster munitions at US bases in Japan as the bases are not under Japan’s jurisdiction.[34]

In March 2013, media reported that US Forces at Kadena Air Base practiced use of cluster munitions at bombing ranges off the coast of Okinawa.[35]

In response to a parliamentary question in 2013, Japan’s Ministry of Defense stated that its Self-Defense Force was not involved in the transportation of US cluster munitions in 2012. The Ministry of Defense did not clarify if Japanese contractors were involved in transporting US cluster munitions, as it does not view this as an issue of concern.[36]