Ten-Year Review: State Party Austria was amongst the first 30 ratifications to trigger the entry into force of the convention on 1 August 2010. It adopted national legislation banning cluster munitions in 2007. Austria has attended every meeting of the convention and it promotes universalization. Austria has consistently condemned new use of cluster munitions in Syria and other conflicts. Austria has also elaborated its views on several important issues for the interpretation and implementation of the convention.

In its initial transparency report for the convention provided in 2011 Austria confirmed it has never used, produced, or exported cluster munitions and no longer possesses them, including for research or training purposes. Austria completed the destruction of a stockpile of 12,672 cluster munitions and 798,336 submunitions in November 2010.

Policy

The Republic of Austria signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 3 December 2008 and ratified on 2 April 2009. Austria was among the first 30 ratifications to trigger the convention’s entry into force on 1 August 2010.

Austria became the second country after Belgium to pass national legislation on cluster munitions in December 2007, when it enacted the Federal Act on the Prohibition of Cluster Munitions, which entered into force on 8 January 2008.[1] The law prohibits “the development, production, acquisition, sale, procurement, import, export, transit, use and possession of cluster munitions” in Austria and requires the destruction of stockpiled cluster munitions within three years.[2]

Austria submitted its initial Article 7 report for the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 26 January 2011. It has provided annual updates since then, most recently in February 2020.[3]

As a member of the small core group of nations that steered the Oslo Process to its successful conclusion, Austria played a crucial leadership role in securing the Convention on Cluster Munitions, including by hosting a key meeting of the Oslo Process in Vienna in December 2007. During the formal negotiations of the convention in Dublin in May 2008, Austria played a vital role in securing acceptance of the convention’s groundbreaking provisions on victim assistance.[4]

Austria has participated in every Meeting of States Parties of the convention, most recently the Ninth Meeting of States Parties in Geneva in September 2019. It attended the convention’s First Review Conference in Dubrovnik, Croatia in September 2015 and intersessional meetings in Geneva in 2011–2015. Austria says that it promotes the convention’s universalization using “every appropriate occasion at bilateral and multilateral levels.”[5]

Austria is one of the strongest defenders of the emerging international norm against any use of cluster munitions, which the convention seeks to establish. Since 2010, it has condemned or expressed concern at new use of cluster munitions in Cambodia, Libya, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Ukraine, and Yemen.[6]

Austria was the first country to express concern at Syria’s cluster munition use in 2012.[7] It has voted in favor of UN General Assembly (UNGA) resolutions condemning the use of cluster munitions in Syria, most recently in December 2019.[8] Austria has voted for multiple Human Rights Council resolutions that condemned the use of cluster munitions in Syria, most recently in June 2020.[9]

In December 2019, Austria voted in favor of UNGA Resolution 74/62 promoting universalization and implementation of the convention.[10] It has voted for the annual resolution on cluster munitions since it was first introduced in 2015.

Austria is a strong proponent of the humanitarian disarmament model of partnership between governments, international organizations, and civil society, describing this as “crucial for the convention to maximize its potential.”[11]

Interpretive issues

Austria has elaborated its views on several important issues relating to the interpretation and implementation of the convention.

Austria’s implementation law for the convention specifically prohibits transit of cluster munitions.[12] In Austria’s view, the “transit of cluster munitions across or foreign stockpiling of cluster munitions on the national territory of States Parties is prohibited by the Convention. In this regard Article 1 paragraph b is of particular interest as it states a clear prohibition of transferring as well as stockpiling cluster munitions. Should a State Party to the Convention allow a foreign state to stockpile cluster munitions on its territory, this action would be in violation with the provision entailed in Article 1 paragraph c that prohibits assistance ‘to engage in any activity prohibited to a State Party.’”[13]

On Article 21 (relations with states not party) or “interoperability,” Austria has stated that the article “leaves room for some interpretation, especially as to paragraph 4.”[14] In 2012, Austria underlined that “all State Parties are obliged to undertake best efforts to discourage States from using cluster munitions” and said that “exceptions in national legislation with respect to interoperability clauses risk to run counter to the object and purpose of the Convention.”[15]

Austria’s Federal Act on the Prohibition of Cluster Munitions does not explicitly prohibit investment in the production of cluster munitions.

Austria is party to the Mine Ban Treaty. It is also party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons.

Use, production, and transfer

Austria has stated that it has never used, produced, or exported cluster munitions.[16] Austria has reported that it has no cluster munition production facilities.[17]

Austria acquired DM632 artillery projectiles containing M85 submunitions from Israel’s state-owned Israel Military Industries (IMI) in 1998 and 1999 for €10.44 million (US$14.3 million).[18]

Stockpile destruction

Austria declared a stockpile of 12,669 155mm DM632 artillery projectiles and 798,147 M85 submunitions, which its national law required it be destroyed within three years, by the end of 2010.[19]

Austria completed the destruction of 12,672 155mm DM632 artillery projectiles and 798,336 M85 submunitions in November 2010.[20] The bulk of the cluster munitions were destroyed in 2010 by a company in Lachiano, Italy through a process of dismantling, recycling, and incineration of the explosive materials.[21]

Prior to entry into force, the Austrian Armed Forces destroyed three 155mm DM632 artillery projectiles containing 189 submunitions in February 2010 during testing.[22]

Austria has not retained any cluster munitions for research or training purposes.[23]

Policy

The Republic of Austria signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 3 December 1997 and ratified it on 29 June 1998, becoming a State Party on 1 March 1999. In 1996, Austria enacted legislation to implement the Mine Ban Treaty domestically.[1]

Austria has attended most meetings of the treaty, including the Third Review Conference in Maputo in June 2014 and the Seventeenth Meeting of States Parties in Geneva in November 2018, where it provided statements on victim assistance and implementation of Article 5.[2] Austria also attended the intersessional meetings in Geneva in May 2019. Austria submits annual Article 7 transparency reports.

Austria served on the Standing Committees on the General Status and Operation of the Convention (2001–2003), Victim Assistance (2005–2007, 2014), Cooperative Compliance (2016), and Article 5 Implementation (2018–2019) and was the president of the First Review Conference in 2004 and the Sixteenth Meeting of States Parties in 2017.

Austria is party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons and its Amended Protocol II on landmines and Protocol V on explosive remnants of war. It is also party to the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

Production, use, transfer, and stockpiling

According to the Austrian Chamber of Commerce, there has been no production of antipersonnel mines in Austria since 1945.[3] Reference works indicate that Austria has produced as many as 14 different types of directional fragmentation antipersonnel mines, as well as the SPM 75 (ARGES) bounding antipersonnel mine.[4] Companies involved in production have included Hirtenberger AG, Sudsteirische Metallindustrie GmbH (SMI), Dynamit Nobel Graz (formerly Dynamit Nobel Wien), and Armaturen-Gesellschaft BmgH (the SPM 75 bounding mine). Exact data about the past production of antipersonnel mines is not available.[5]

Production, export, and use of antipersonnel mines were formally renounced in September 1995. This was superseded by the domestic ban law.

It is uncertain if, or to which countries, Austria exported its SPM 75 bounding mine.

In 1996, Austria destroyed its stockpile of antipersonnel mines, including 116,000 M14 mines from the United States and small quantities of prototypes. Austria did not retain any antipersonnel mines for training.

In 2018, the Republic of Austria contributed €1.5 million (US$1.8 million) in mine action funding to two countries, as well as to the Mine Ban Treaty Implementation Support Unit.[1] In 2017, Austria’s mine action funding increased by more than 50%, compared to 2017.

Contributions by recipient: 2018[2]

Between 2014–2018, Austria’s funding to mine action totaled €3.6 million ($4.1 million), this is more than halved compared to the previous five-year period, from 2009–2013 when it contributed €7.6 million ($10.3 million).[3]

Summary of contributions: 2014–2018[4]