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Swaziland
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 Fourth Meeting of States Parties in Lusaka in September 2013 and intersessional meetings in Geneva in April 2014 |
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Key developments |
Submitted annual updated Article 7 report on 23 January 2014 |
Policy
The Kingdom of Swaziland acceded to the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 13 September 2011. The convention entered into force for Swaziland on 1 March 2012.
Swaziland provided its initial Article 7 transparency measures report for the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 9 April 2013, and provided an annual updated Article 7 report on 23 January 2014.[1]
It is not clear if specific national legislation will be undertaken to enforce the provisions of the convention domestically. Under national implementation measures in both Article 7 reports, Swaziland stated that a memorandum to approve “commencement of domestication” of the Convention on Cluster Munitions was submitted to the cabinet (executive body) for approval in May 2011.[2]
Swaziland participated in the Oslo Process that created the Convention on Cluster Munitions. It joined in the consensus adoption of the convention text in Dublin in May 2008, but could not sign the convention in Oslo in December 2008 due to incorrect paperwork.[3] Swaziland’s accession during the convention’s Second Meeting of States Parties in Beirut, Lebanon came after it had made several positive statements in 2009 and 2010 in support of the ban convention.
Swaziland has continued to engage in the work of the Convention on Cluster Munitions. Swaziland attended a regional workshop in Lomé, Togo in May 2013, the convention’s Fourth Meeting of States Parties in Lusaka, Zambia in September 2013, and intersessional meetings in April 2014.
At the Fourth Meeting of States Parties, Swaziland called for universalization of the treaty to attain the goal of a cluster munitions-free zone on the African continent.[4]
Swaziland is a State Party to the Mine Ban Treaty. It is not party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons.
Use, production, transfer, and stockpiling
Swaziland has stated several times that it has never produced, stockpiled, used, or transferred cluster munitions.[5] In its initial Article 7 report, Swaziland declared that it has never used, produced, or stockpiled cluster munitions and is not retaining any cluster munitions or explosive submunitions for research or training purposes.[6]
[1] The initial report covers calendar year 2012, while the report provided in January 2014 says it is for calendar year 2014, but this appears to be an error, since it should cover a previous period such as calendar year 2013.
[2] It is not clear if the memo refers to approval of Swaziland’s accession to the convention or to national measures to enforce the provisions of the convention domestically. Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 7 Report, Form A, 29 April 2013.
[3] For details on Swaziland’s policy and practice regarding cluster munitions through early 2011, see CMC, Cluster Munition Monitor 2011 (Ottawa: Mines Action Canada, October 2011), p. 315.
[4] Statement of Swaziland, Convention on Cluster Munitions Fourth Meeting of States Parties, Lusaka, 10 September 2013.
[5] Statement of Swaziland, Accra Regional Conference on the Universalization of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, Accra, 28 May 2012; and statement of Swaziland, Lomé Regional Conference on the Universalization of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, Lomé, Togo, 22 May 2013.
[6] Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 7 Report, Forms A to J (inclusive), 29 April 2013.
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