Summary: State Party Costa Rica ratified the convention on 28 April 2011. It is considering enacting specific implementation legislation for the convention. Costa Rica hosted the Fifth Meeting of States Parties in San José in September 2014 and served as president of the convention until September 2015, when it was designated as the coordinator on transparency measures. Costa Rica has participated in all of the convention’s meetings and promotes universalization of the convention. It has repeatedly condemned new use of cluster munitions, including in Syria and Yemen. Costa Rica was a lead sponsor on a UN resolution on the convention in December 2015.

In its initial transparency report for the convention, provided in June 2014, Costa Rica confirmed it has never used, produced, transferred, or stockpiled cluster munitions and does not possess any for training and research.

Policy

The Republic of Costa Rica signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 3 December 2008, ratified on 28 April 2011, and the convention entered into force for the country on 1 October 2011.

Costa Rica has declared its ratification legislation under national implementation measures.[1] It does not appear to be preparing any additional legislative measures to enforce the convention’s provisions.[2]

Costa Rica submitted its initial Article 7 transparency report for the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 13 June 2014 and has provided annual updated reports, most recently on 16 June 2016.[3]

Costa Rica played an important role in the Oslo Process that produced the convention, including by holding a regional conference in San José in September 2007.[4]

Costa Rica hosted the convention’s Fifth Meeting of States Parties in San José on 2–5 September 2014. A total of 98 countries participated—60 States Parties, 16 signatories, and 22 non-signatory observers—in addition to representatives from UN agencies, the ICRC, and the CMC.[5] Costa Rica’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Manuel González Sanz, was elected President of the meeting and represented by Costa Rica’s Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva, Ambassador Christian Guillermet Fernández. During the meeting, Belize acceded to the convention, making Central America the first sub-region to have universalized the convention and become a zone free of cluster munitions, while approximately 40 countries condemned or expressed concern at new use of cluster munitions.

Costa Rica participated in and served as a vice-president of the convention’s First Review Conference in Dubrovnik, Croatia in September 2015. Costa Rica’s Minister of Foreign Affairs opened the meeting and formally handed over presidency of the Convention on Cluster Munitions to Croatian Prime Minister Zoran Milanović. In an address to the high-level segment of the meeting, González called on “those who continue to use these weapons” and “those who develop and produce or acquire them” to reviewed and update their security and military doctrines and accede to the convention without delay.[6]

At the First Review Conference, Costa Rica was designated as the convention’s coordinator on transparency measures.

Costa Rica has attended every annual Meeting of States Parties of the convention as well as intersessional meetings in Geneva in 2011–2015. It has hosted and also participated in regional workshops on cluster munitions, most recently in Santiago, Chile in December 2013.[7]

On 15 August 2015, Costa Rica and Croatia convened an informal consultation in New York to discuss a draft UN General Assembly (UNGA) resolution on the convention that both countries led sponsorship of and voted for.[8] A total of 140 states including many non-signatories voted in favor of the non-binding resolution on 7 December 2015, which urges states outside the convention to “join as soon as possible.”

In a December 2015 statement marking the sixth anniversary of the signing of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, Costa Rica’s foreign minister set the goal of reaching 100 States Parties in 2015. Costa Rica’s universalization efforts also paid dividends when Cuba acceded to the convention on 6 April 2016, becoming the 99^h State Party. Palau became the 100^th State Party after ratifying on 19 April 2016.

Costa Rica has consistently spoken out against any use of cluster munitions and condemned new use of the weapons. At the First Review Conference, Costa Rica’s foreign minister affirmed that any use of cluster munitions is “a flagrant violation of international law” and said “I take this podium to call on all actors who have been identified for the alleged use of cluster munitions to investigate the facts and their responsibilities. It is precisely the public reaction to the use of these inhumane weapons, which is the growing stigma attached to them and those who used.”[9] He described the “unacceptable” use of cluster munitions since the convention’s 1 August 2010 entry into force, listing the following countries where attacks occurred: Cambodia, Libya, Myanmar, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Ukraine, and Yemen.

As the convention’s president, Costa Rica issued a statement in October 2014 condemning new use of cluster munitions in Ukraine and convened a side event briefing on the topic with the CMC.[10] In May 2015, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Costa Rica issued a statement condemning the use of cluster munitions in Yemen, citing evidence that the Saudi Arabia-led coalition has used the weapons in its operation.[11]

At the UNGA First Committee on Disarmament and International Security in October 2015, Costa Rica condemned the use of cluster munitions in Syria, Yemen, Ukraine, and South Sudan, and urged all states to adhere to the convention.[12] It has voted in favor of UNGA resolutions condemning the use of cluster munitions in Syria, most recently in December 2015.[13]

Costa Rica has not elaborated its views on certain important issues relating to convention’s interpretation and implementation, 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, and the prohibition on investment in production of cluster munitions.

Costa Rica 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

In June 2014, Costa Rica reported that it “does not use, develop, produce, acquire, store, preserve or transfer cluster munitions and there is no information on the existence of such weapons in Costa Rican territory.”[14]

Costa Rica previously stated that it has never used, produced, transferred, or stockpiled cluster munitions.[15]

Costa Rica is not retaining any cluster munitions and submunitions for training and development purposes.

Policy

The Republic of Costa Rica signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 3 December 1997 and ratified it on 17 March 1999, becoming a State Party on 1 September 1999. Legislation to enforce the antipersonnel mine prohibition domestically was enacted on 17 April 2002.[1]

Costa Rica regularly attends meetings of the treaty, including the Third Review Conference in Maputo in June 2014, and more recently, the Seventeenth Meeting of States Parties in Geneva in November 2018, where it provided a general statement.[2] Costa Rica also attended the intersessional meetings in Geneva in May 2019.

Costa Rica previously served on the Committee on Victim Assistance (2014) and the Committee on Article 5 Implementation (2015–2016).

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

Costa Rica has never used, produced, exported, or imported antipersonnel mines, including for training purposes.

Costa Rica’s northern border with Nicaragua was contaminated by mines laid by parties to the 1980s conflict in Nicaragua. In a ceremony on 10 December 2002, Costa Rica announced the completion of clearance in all known mined areas, well ahead of its 1 September 2009 Article 5 clearance deadline.