Five-Year Review: State Party Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) ratified the convention on 7 September 2010. It views its ratification law as sufficient to ensure implementation of the convention’s provisions. BiH has participated in every Meeting of States Parties of the convention and has elaborated its views on important issues relating to the interpretation and implementation of the convention.

During the 1992–1995 war, Yugoslav forces and non-state armed groups used cluster munitions. BiH has acknowledged past production of cluster munitions. In 2011 and 2012, BiH completed the destruction of a stockpile of 445 cluster munitions and 148,059 submunitions.

Policy

Bosnia and Herzegovina signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 3 December 2008, ratified on 7 September 2010, and the convention entered into force for the country on 1 March 2011.

BiH has declared its ratification law under national implementation measures for the Convention on Cluster Munitions.[1] In September 2013, it stated that, “all the necessary legislation is in place.”[2]

BiH submitted its initial Article 7 report for the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 20 August 2011 and has provided annual updated reports ever since, most recently in June 2015.[3] 

BiH actively participated throughout the Oslo Process that created the Convention on Cluster Munitions, making strong contributions based on its experience as a country affected by cluster munitions and declaring a national moratorium on cluster munition use prior to the conclusion of the process.[4]

BiH engages in the work of the Convention on Cluster Munitions. It has participated in every Meeting of States Parties of the convention, including the Fifth Meeting of States Parties in San Jose, Cost Rica in September 2014, where it made statements on clearance. BiH has attended all of the convention’s intersessional meetings in Geneva. BiH has participated in regional workshops on the convention and attended a mine action symposium in Biograd, Croatia on 27–29 April 2015, which included discussion on cluster munitions.[5] BiH served as the convention’s coordinator on victim assistance in 2012–2013 together with Afghanistan.

BiH has voted in favor of UN General Assembly (UNGA) resolutions condemning the use of cluster munitions in Syria, including Resolution 69/189 on 18 December 2014, which expressed “outrage” at the continued use.[6]

Interpretive issues

In July 2011, the director of the department of conventional weapons of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs elaborated the ministry’s views on a number of issues important for the interpretation and implementation of the convention. On the prohibition on assistance with prohibited acts during joint military operations or “interoperability,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that “under the same Article 21, para 3, we may engage in joint military operations with non-states Parties that might engage in activities prohibited by the Convention, however our personnel or nationals should not provide assistance with activities prohibited by the Convention.”[7]

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs states that the “transit of cluster munitions across, or foreign stockpiling of cluster munitions on, the national territory of States Parties is prohibited by the Convention.”[8] The ministry, however, noted that it does not have “access to or information on weapon types” stockpiled in European Union Force (EUFOR) military bases “on our territory.”[9] In May 2013, a Ministry of Defense official said the ministry has not inquired about the status of any foreign cluster munitions stored on EUFOR military bases in BiH.[10]

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has also stated that it considers “investment in the production of cluster munitions to be prohibited.”[11]

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

Use, production, and transfer

Yugoslav forces and non-state armed groups used available stocks of cluster munitions during the 1992–1995 war. The various entity armies inherited cluster munitions during the break-up of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

In its initial Article 7 report, BiH declared, “There are no production facilities for CM [Cluster Munitions] in Bosnia and Herzegovina.”[12]

BiH has acknowledged past production of cluster munitions and first stated in 2007 that production had ceased.[13] It produced KB-1 and KB-2 submunitions for the Orkan multi-barrel rocket system, artillery projectiles, and mortar bombs.[14] The production capacity included the ability to manufacture KB-series submunitions and integrate them into carrier munitions such as artillery projectiles and rockets.[15] According to Jane’s Information Group, the Ministry of Defense produced the 262mm M-87 Orkan rocket, each containing 288 KB-1 dual-purpose submunitions.[16] It also lists BiH armed forces as possessing KPT-150 dispensers (which deploy submunitions) for aircraft.[17]

Stockpile destruction

BiH once possessed a stockpile of 445 cluster munitions of three types and 148,059 submunitions, as listed in the following table.

Cluster munitions formerly stockpiled by BiH[18]

Under Article 3 of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, BiH was required to destroy all stockpiled cluster munitions under its jurisdiction and control as soon as possible, but not later than 1 March 2019.

In September 2012, BiH announced that the completion of its destruction of “all known and reported stocks of cluster munitions in 2011” and declared that it has “fulfilled all obligations relating to Article 3” of the Convention on Cluster Munitions.[19]

A total of 441 cluster munitions and 147,967 submunitions were destroyed in 2011, while 16,128 KB1 submunitions from M-87 Orkan 262mm rockets were destroyed in 2012,[20] along with four M-93 120mm mortar bombs containing 92 submunitions discovered after the 2011 stockpile destruction.[21] In 2014, the Ministry of Defense informed Landmine Survivors Initiatives that it destroyed the four bombs and their submunitions by open detonation.[22]  

In June 2015, BiH reported the destruction of 341 KB-1 submunitions on 16 April 2014 at Pretis in Vogosca.[23] It reported the discovery of the KB-1 submunitions in Pretis as well as four KB-2 submunitions in Krupa, Hadzici in the 2013 and June 2014 Article 7 reports.[24] On 17 June 2014, a cache of 114 KB-2 submunitions was found behind a house near Sarajevo.[25] According to the Federal Civil Protection the submunitions were taken to Lapov Do in Koniic municipality and destroyed the same day.[26]

Retention

BiH is not retaining any cluster munitions for research or training purposes.[27]