Central African Republic
Cluster Munition Ban Policy
Summary
Signatory the Central African Republic has pledged to ratify the Convention on Cluster Munitions, but has not yet done so. It last participated in a meeting of the convention in 2014. The Central African Republic voted in favor of the annual United Nations (UN) resolution promoting universalization of the convention in December 2021.
The Central African Republic has stated that it has never used, produced, or exported cluster munitions, and that its stockpiled cluster munitions have been destroyed.
Policy
The Central African Republicsigned the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 3 December 2008.
The current status of its ratification is not known. Previously, in 2013, government representatives said that internal armed conflict was delaying ratification of the convention.[1] Prior to 2013, officials reported that the ratification was pending.[2]
The Central African Republic participated in a regional meeting of the diplomatic Oslo Process that created the convention, in Kampala, Uganda in September 2008.[3] It signed the convention in Oslo in December 2008.
The Central African Republic participated in meetings of the convention until 2014.[4] It was invited to, but did not attend, the Second Review Conference held in November 2020 and September 2021.
In December 2021, the Central African Republic voted in favor of the key United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) resolution urging states outside the convention to “join as soon as possible.”[5] The Central African Republic has voted in favor of the annual UNGA resolution promoting the convention every year since it was first introduced in 2015, with the exception of 2017 when it was absent from the vote.
The Central African Republic is a State Party to the Mine Ban Treaty. It is not party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW).
Use, production, transfer, and stockpiling
The Central African Republic has stated that it has never used, produced, or transferred cluster munitions, and that it has no stocks of cluster munitions.[6]
Officials have indicated that cluster munitions have been recovered from non-state armed groups (NSAGs) operating in the country in the past.[7]
[1] Cluster Munition Coalition (CMC) meeting with Désiré Laurent Malibangar, Coordinator, Ministry of Defense, Lomé, 22 May 2013. The Central African Republic delegation to the Convention on Cluster Munitions Fourth Meeting of States Parties in September 2013 also informed the CMC that ratification had been delayed by conflict.
[2] Statement of the Central African Republic, Accra Regional Conference on the Universalization of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, Accra, 28 May 2012; and statement of the Central African Republic, Convention on Cluster Munitions Second Meeting of States Parties, Beirut, 14 September 2011.
[3] For details on the Central African Republic’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), p. 55.
[4] The Central African Republic participated in meetings of States Parties until 2014 as well as regional workshops on the convention. It did not participate in the First Review Conference in Dubrovnik, Croatia in September 2015, nor intersessional meetings held in 2011–2015.
[5] “Implementation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions,” UNGA Resolution 76/47, 6 December 2021.
[6] Statement by Antoine Gambi, Ministry of Defense, Convention on Cluster Munitions Oslo Signing Conference, 4 December 2008. Notes by Landmine Action.
[7] CMC meeting with Désiré Laurent Malibangar, Ministry of Defense, Accra, 29 May 2012. The official made this clarification after the Central African Republic told States Parties in 2011 that it had destroyed a stockpile of cluster munitions. Statement of the Central African Republic, Convention on Cluster Munitions Second Meeting of States Parties, Beirut, 14 September 2011.