Summary

Non-signatory Estonia accepts the humanitarian rationale for banning cluster munitions, but has never taken any steps to accede to the Convention on Cluster Munitions. Estonia has never participated in a meeting of the convention, even as an observer. It abstained from voting on the key annual United Nations (UN) resolution promoting the convention in December 2021.

Estonia states that it has never used or produced cluster munitions. Estonia has shared limited information on its cluster munition stockpile.

Policy

The Republic of Estonia has not acceded to the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

Estonia acknowledges the humanitarian rationale of the convention, but states it has not acceded “due to security considerations.”[1] Previously, in 2012 and 2013, Estonia said it could not join the convention due to the cost and time involved in replacing its stockpiled cluster munitions.[2]

Estonia participated throughout the Oslo Process to develop the Convention on Cluster Munitions and joined in its consensus adoption in Dublin in May 2008, where it described the convention as a “remarkable achievement” that it would consider further.[3]

Estonia has never participated in a meeting of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, even as an observer. It was invited to, but did not attend, the convention’s Second Review Conference held in November 2020 and September 2021.

Estonia abstained from voting on the key United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) resolution in December 2021, which urged states outside the Convention on Cluster Munitions to “join as soon as possible.”[4] It has abstained from the vote on the annual UNGA resolution promoting the convention since it was first introduced in 2015.

In 2015–2018, Estonia endorsed a joint UNGA statement on cluster munitions made by Poland on behalf of itself and three other European Union (EU) member states—Finland, Greece, and Romania—that are not party to the convention, reiterating the need to meet their own “legitimate security concerns and military and defence needs.”[5]

In March 2022, Estonia endorsed a joint statement by eight Nordic-Baltic states condemning Russia’s use of cluster munitions in Ukraine, calling it one of several “inhuman and immoral actions [that] embody Russia’s disregard for international law, including international humanitarian law, and the principles upon which the UN is based.”[6] In May 2022, four Estonian journalists were caught in a Russian cluster munition rocket attack in Ukraine’s Donetsk province.[7]

Estonia has voted in favor of UNGA resolutions expressing outrage at the use of cluster munitions in Syria.[8] It has also voted for Human Rights Council resolutions condemning the use of cluster munitions in Syria.[9]

Estonia 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 2012, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs affirmed that Estonia “has never produced or used cluster munitions offensively and has no intention to do so in the future.”[10]

Estonia is not known to have exported cluster munitions.

Estonia possesses cluster munitions but has never explained how it acquired them or provided information on the quantity and types stockpiled.

In 2009 and 2010, Estonia’s then-Minister of Foreign Affairs, Urmas Paet, told the Monitor that the Estonian Defense Forces possess DM632 155mm artillery projectiles in “small amounts…for training and defensive purposes.”[11]

Policy

The Republic of Estonia acceded to the Mine Ban Treaty on 12 May 2004, becoming a State Party on 1 November 2004. The Estonian criminal code and specific legislation, which entered into force on 5 February 2004, provide for the imposition of penal sanctions as required by the treaty.

Estonia attends meetings of the treaty quite regularly, including the Third Review Conference in Maputo in June 2014. More recently, Estonia attended the Mine Ban Treaty Seventeenth Meeting of States Parties in Geneva in November 2018, where it gave a general statement, and the intersessional meetings in May 2019.[1] Estonia served as co-rapporteur and then co-chair of the Standing Committee on Stockpile Destruction from 2005–2007.

Estonia is party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons and its Amended Protocol II on landmines and Protocol V on explosive remnants of war. Estonia is not party to the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

Production, use, transfer, and stockpiling

Estonia has never used, produced, exported, or imported antipersonnel mines, including for training purposes. In its initial Article 7 transparency report in 2005, Estonia did not declare any antipersonnel mines retained for research and training purposes, nor has it done so in any subsequent transparency report. However, in March 2000, a Foreign Ministry official told Landmine Monitor that Estonia possessed “less than 1,000” antipersonnel mines that it used for training.[2]

There are unpopulated islands in the Finnish gulf that were mined during WWII. They present only a minor danger, because no one lives on the islands and they are protected from visitors. These islands are the only mined areas in Estonia.

In 2018, the Republic of Estonia contributed US$30,000 to the United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) to mine action activities in Iraq.[1]

From 2014–2018, Estonia’s contribution ranged from $20,000 to more than $110,000.

Summary of contributions 2014–2018[2]