Commitment to the Convention on Cluster Munitions

Policy

The Republic of Nicaragua signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 3 December 2008 and ratified on 2 November 2009. Nicaragua became a State Party to the convention on 1 August 2010. Nicaragua was the third country to ratify from Latin America (after Mexico and Uruguay) and the 24^th globally.  Thus, it was among the first 30 ratifications that triggered entry into force of the convention on 1 August 2010.

According to information provided to Landmine and Cluster Munition Monitor by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Decree 5764 to ratify the convention was approved by the legislature on 20 August 2009 and published in the official journal a week later.[1] The convention was then ratified by the Executive on 4 September 2009 as Decree 72-2009 and published in the official journal a week later.[2] The instrument of ratification was then deposited with the UN in New York on 2 November 2009.

Nicaragua is not known to have begun the process of preparing national legislation or other implementation measures. 

Nicaragua has continued to show strong interest in the convention. It attended the Berlin Conference on the Destruction of Cluster Munitions in June 2009. It participated in the Regional Conference for Latin America and the Caribbean on Cluster Munitions held in Santiago, Chile on in September 2009, where the Vice-President of the Nicaraguan Parliament announced the completion of Nicaragua’s domestic ratification process.[3] In June 2010, Nicaragua attended the International Conference on the Convention on Cluster Munitions, also held in Santiago.

Nicaragua joined the Oslo Process, that resulted in the negotiation and signing of the convention, in September 2007 and played an active and positive role, including during the Dublin negotiations held in May 2008.[4]

Nicaragua has not yet made known 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.

Nicaragua is party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) and its Protocol V on explosive remnants of war. It has not engaged in the CCW deliberations on cluster munitions in recent years.

Nicaragua has stated that it has never used, produced, or stockpiled cluster munitions.[5]