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]

Policy

The Republic of Côte d’Ivoire signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 3 December 1997, ratified on 30 June 2000, and became a State Party on 1 December 2000. Côte d’Ivoire has declared existing legislation under national implementation measures and has not enacted specific national legal measures to implement the treaty.[1]

Côte d’Ivoire has attended some Meetings of States Parties of the Mine Ban Treaty, most recently the Fourteenth Meeting of States Parties in Geneva in November–December 2015. It attended the treaty’s Third Review Conference in Maputo in June 2014. Most recently, Côte d’Ivoire attended intersessional meetings in Geneva in May 2019, but did not make a statement. It has not provided an updated Article 7 transparency report since 2014.

On 5 December 2018, Côte d’Ivoire voted in favor of UN General Assembly Resolution 73/61 promoting universalization and implementation of the convention.[2]

Côte d’Ivoire is a State Party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons and Protocol V on explosive remnants of war, but not Amended Protocol II on landmines. Côte d’Ivoire is also party to the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

Use, production, transfer, and stockpiling

Côte d’Ivoire has reported that it has never used, produced, or exported antipersonnel mines.[3]

In 2011, Côte d’Ivoire experienced six months of post-election armed conflict between forces loyal to former president Laurent Gbagbo and then-president-elect Alassane Ouattara.[4] Media articles reported allegations of mine use by both Gbagbo’s and Ouattara’s forces. Each side accused the other of use of antipersonnel mines,[5] but the Monitor has found no evidence of antipersonnel mine use during the conflict.[6]

In its initial Article 7 report provided in 2004, Côte d’Ivoire stated that it possessed no stockpile of antipersonnel mines, including for training purposes.

In its 2014 transparency report, however, Côte d’Ivoire declared stocks of antipersonnel landmines found during an inventory check after the 2011 elections crisis.[7] It reported that 1,526 mines were destroyed in 2012 and another 277 mines were destroyed between 27 July 2013 and 28 February 2014.

In 2017, three people were killed and 14 injured due to the explosion of a fragmentation grenade.[1] It was not clear if the grenade was thrown or unintentionally initiated, therefore these casualties have not been included in the global total as explosive remnants of war (ERW) casualties.

In 2016, nine ERW casualties were reported in the Republic of Côte d’Ivoire. A boy was injured when the grenade he had picked up on his way to school exploded.[2] Seven workers were also injured in another incident when a found grenade exploded.[3] Media reports also indicated that in 2016 there were several casualties due to hand grenades being thrown, but it was not always reported if those grenades were used as attacks or found as ERW.

The casualty total for 2016 marked a significant increase in the number of ERW casualties reported in Côte d’Ivoire compared to previous years. No new casualties were reported in 2015. In 2014, the Monitor identified one ERW casualty; while farming, a man struck a grenade believed to have been left-over from a conflict in 2011.[4]

The Monitor identified a total of 42 ERW casualties in Côte d’Ivoire from 1999 to 2016 (nine people killed; and 33 injured). The vast majority of casualties, 25, were children, another 12 casualties were adults, and for five casualties the age was not recorded.[5]