Benin
Cluster Munition Ban Policy
Summary
State Party Benin ratified the Convention on Cluster Munitions in July 2017. Benin has participated in several meetings of the convention, most recently in September 2019, and voted in favor of a key United Nations (UN) resolution promoting the convention in December 2020.
Benin provided its initial Article 7 transparency report for the convention in June 2019, which confirmed that it has never used, produced, transferred, or stockpiled cluster munitions.
Policy
The Republic of Benin signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 3 December 2008 and ratified it on 10 July 2017. The convention entered into force for the country on 1 January 2018.
Benin has not undertaken any national implementation measures, such as introducing legislation to enforce the convention’s provisions.[1]
Benin provided its initial Article 7 transparency report for the convention on 20 June 2019.[2] As of August 2022, Benin has not provided its updated report due by 30 April each year.
Benin participated in the Oslo Process that created the Convention on Cluster Munitions and was a strong advocate for a comprehensive ban.[3]
Benin has attended most of the convention’s meetings, most recently the Ninth Meeting of States Parties in Geneva in September 2019.[4] It was invited to, but did not attend, the convention’s Second Review Conference held in November 2020 and September 2021. Benin did not participate in the intersessional meetings of the convention in May 2022, but attended previous intersessional meetings in 2011–2014.
Benin was absent from the vote on a United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) resolution urging full implementation of the convention in December 2021.[5] It had previously voted in favor of the annual UNGA resolution promoting the convention since it was first introduced in 2015.
Benin has also voted in favor of UNGA resolutions expressing outrage at the use of cluster munitions in Syria.[6]
Benin has not elaborated its views on certain important issues relating to its interpretation and implementation of the convention, such as 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 for training and development purposes.
Benin is a State Party to the Mine Ban Treaty. It is also party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW).
Use, production, transfer, and stockpiling
Benin reported in June 2019 that it has never produced cluster munitions and does not stockpile them.[7] Previously, Benin reiterated several times that it had never used, produced, transferred, or stockpiled cluster munitions.[8]
[1] Benin Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 7 Report, Form A, 20 June 2019. The report states “not applicable” under national implementation measures required by Article 9.
[2] The initial report was originally due by 30 June 2018.
[3] For details on Benin’s cluster munition policy and practice up to early 2009, see Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Landmine Action, Banning Cluster Munitions: Government Policy and Practice (Ottawa: Mines Action Canada, May 2009), pp. 42–43.
[4] Benin participated in the convention’s First Review Conference in 2015 and in every meeting of States Parties of the convention, except in 2011, 2016, and 2018. It has attended several regional workshops on the convention.
[5] “Implementation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions,” UNGA Resolution 76/47, 6 December 2021.
[6] “Situation of human rights in the Syrian Arab Republic,” UNGA Resolution 75/193, 16 December 2020. Benin voted in favor of similar resolutions in 2013–2016 and 2018–2019, but abstained from the vote in December 2017.
[7] Benin Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 7 Report, 20 June 2019.
[8] Statement of Benin, Lomé Regional Seminar on the Universalization of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, Lomé, Togo, 22 May 2013. Notes by Action on Armed Violence (AOAV); and statement of Benin, Convention on Cluster Munitions Third Meeting of States Parties, Oslo, 12 September 2012.