Summary: State Party Côte d’Ivoire ratified the convention on 12 March 2012. It has expressed its desire to adopt national implementing legislation for the convention, but has not introduced draft legislation for parliamentary approval. Côte d’Ivoire has participated in most of the convention’s meetings and voted in favor of a UN resolution on the convention in December 2015. In its initial transparency report for the convention provided in 2013, Côte d’Ivoire confirmed it has never used or produced cluster munitions. In February 2013, it completed the destruction of its stockpile of 68 cluster bombs and 10,200 submunitions. Côte d’Ivoire is not retaining any cluster munitions for research or training purposes.

Policy

The Republic of Côte d’Ivoire signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 4 December 2008, ratified on 12 March 2012, and the convention entered into force for the country on 1 September 2012.

A National Commission on Small Arms and Light Weapons has been coordinating the preparation of Côte d’Ivoire’s implementing legislation for the treaties banning cluster munitions and antipersonnel landmines. As of June 2016, draft legislation had not been introduced for parliamentary approval. Previously, Côte d’Ivoire said that the legislation would not be finalized until after the presidential election held on 25 October 2015.[1] Since 2013, Côte d’Ivoire has expressed its intent to undertake legal measures to ensure its compliance with the Convention on Cluster Munitions.[2] Côte d’Ivoire has reported its ratification decree and two laws regulating weapons including firearms, ammunition, and explosive substances are existing national implementation measures.[3]

Côte d’Ivoire submitted an initial Article 7 transparency report for the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 29 April 2013.[4] It provided an annual updated report in April 2014 and another on 1 February 2016, which cover the period from 28 February 2013 through February 2016.

Côte d’Ivoire participated in several meetings of the Oslo Process that created the Convention on Cluster Munitions, including the formal negotiations in Dublin in May 2008.[5]

Côte d’Ivoire participated in the First Review Conference of the Convention on Cluster Munitions in Dubrovnik, Croatia in September 2015. It has attended every Meeting of States Parties of the convention since 2011, as well as intersessional meetings in Geneva in 2011 and 2013–2014. Côte d’Ivoire has participated in regional workshops on cluster munitions, most recently in Lomé, Togo in May 2013.

Côte d’Ivoire has sought to universalize the convention in West Africa and promoted it in 2013 during its presidency of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).[6] On 7 December 2015, it voted in favor of a UN General Assembly (UNGA) resolution on the Convention on Cluster Munitions, which urges states outside the convention to “join as soon as possible.”[7]

Côte d’Ivoire has condemned new use of cluster munitions on several occasions, including use in in South Sudan, Syria, and Ukraine.[8] It has voted in favor of UNGA resolutions condemning the use of cluster munitions in Syria, most recently in December 2015.[9] Côte d’Ivoire has also voted in favor of Human Rights Council resolutions condemning the use of cluster munitions in Syria, most recently in July 2015.[10]

Côte d’Ivoire has not elaborated its views on certain important issues related to the 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, the prohibition on investment in production of cluster munitions, and the retention of cluster munitions for training and development purposes.

Côte d’Ivoire is a State Party to the Mine Ban Treaty. It ratified the Convention on Conventional Weapons on 25 May 2016.

Use, production, and transfer

Côte d’Ivoire has stated that it has never used or produced cluster munitions.[11] Its Article 7 reports confirm Côte d’Ivoire has never produced cluster munitions.[12]

Stockpiling and destruction

Côte d’Ivoire once possessed a stockpile of 68 RBK-250-275 cluster bombs containing a total of 10,200 AO-1SCh submunitions.[13] The cluster munitions were acquired between 2003 and 2005, years before the Convention on Cluster Munitions was adopted.[14]

Article 3 of the Convention on Cluster Munitions required that Côte d’Ivoire declare and destroy all stockpiled cluster munitions under its jurisdiction and control as soon as possible, but no later than 1 September 2020.

Côte d’Ivoire destroyed the entire stockpile between 28 January 2013 and 6 February 2013, with the assistance of the UN Mine Action Service (UNMAS).[15] The destruction was carried out at Lomo Nord, approximately 250 kilometers northwest of the capital of Abidjan. Côte d’Ivoire reported that national public health and environmental standards were observed in the destruction process.[16]

Côte d’Ivoire has reported that no additional stocks of cluster munitions have been discovered since the completion of the stockpile destruction in 2014.[17]

Côte d’Ivoire is not retaining any cluster munitions for training or research purposes. In May 2013, it stated that it would not retain cluster munitions because “we don’t want to have these types of arms in our arsenal.”[18]