Gambia
Cluster Munition Ban Policy
Summary
The Gambia ratified the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 25 June 2018. It last participated in a meeting of the convention in 2018. The Gambia voted in favor of a key United Nations (UN) resolution promoting the convention in December 2021.
In its initial Article 7 transparency report for the convention, submitted in November 2019, the Gambia formally confirmed that it has never produced cluster munitions and does not possess any stocks, including for training and research purposes. The Gambia has never used or transferred cluster munitions.
Policy
The Republic of the Gambia signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 3 December 2008 and ratified it on 11 December 2018. The convention entered into force for the country on 1 June 2019.
The Gambia said in November 2019 that it is “aware of its obligations” under the convention and pledged to “take all appropriate legal, administrative and other measures to implement” it.[1] The Gambia reported in 2019 that it was considering whether specific legislation was needed to guide and enforce its implementation of the convention. In May 2022, the Gambia reiterated that it would report any new developments regarding national implementation measures for the convention.[2]
The Gambia provided its initial Article 7 transparency report for the convention in November 2019.[3] It provided an updated report on 15 May 2022, indicating no changes from the first report.
The Gambia attended two meetings of the Oslo Process that created the Convention on Cluster Munitions. It did not participate in the formal negotiations in Dublin in May 2008, but signed the convention in Oslo in December 2008.[4]
The Gambia has participated in meetings of the convention, most recently the Eighth Meeting of States Parties in Geneva in September 2018.[5] It was invited to, but did not attend, the Second Review Conference held in November 2020 and September 2021. The Gambia’s Permanent Secretary of Defence, Rohie Bittaye-Darboe, reiterated her government’s full support for the convention during a meeting with Implementation Support Unit (ISU) staff on 25 April 2022.[6]
In December 2021, the Gambia voted in favor of a United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) resolution urging full implementation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions.[7] Previously, the Gambia voted in favor of the annual resolution promoting the convention in 2018–2020 and in 2015, but was absent from the vote in 2016–2017.
The Gambia has voted in favor of UNGA resolutions expressing outrage at the use of cluster munitions in Syria.[8]
The Gambia has not expressed its views on certain important issues relating to its interpretation and implementation of the convention, such as the prohibitions on transit and assistance during joint military operations with states not party that may use cluster munitions; the prohibition on foreign stockpiling; the prohibition on investment in the production of cluster munitions; and the retention of cluster munitions for training and development purposes.
The Gambia 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
In its initial Article 7 transparency report for the convention, the Gambia formally confirmed that it has never produced cluster munitions and does not possess any stockpiles, including for training and research purposes.[9] In the past, the Gambia reiterated on several occasions that it has never used, produced, or transferred cluster munitions.[10]
[1] Gambia Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 7 Report, Form A, 21 November 2019. See, Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 7 Database.
[2] Gambia Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 7 Report, Form A, 15 May 2022.
[3] Gambia’s initial Article 7 transparency report covers the period prior to November 2019.
[4] For details on the Gambia’s policy and practice regarding cluster munitions through early 2009, see Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Landmine Action, Banning Cluster Munitions: Government Policy and Practice (Ottawa: Mines Action Canada, May 2009), pp. 77–78.
[5] The Gambia previously attended the convention’s Meetings of States Parties in 2010–2012 and 2017–2018, as well as regional workshops on the convention, most recently in Kampala, Uganda in May 2017. It did not participate in the First Review Conference in Dubrovnik, Croatia in September 2015.
[6] Convention on Cluster Munitions, “The Defence Permanent Secretary of the Gambia pays a courtesy call on ISU Director,” 26 April 2022.
[7] “Implementation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions,” UNGA Resolution 76/47, 6 December 2021.
[8] “Situation of human rights in the Syrian Arab Republic,” UNGA Resolution 75/193, 16 December 2020. The Gambia voted in favor of similar UNGA resolutions in 2013–2015 and 2017–2019.
[9] Gambia Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 7 Report, Forms B, C, D and E, 21 November 2019.
[10] The Gambia had previously reported this information in statements. See, Statement of Gambia, Convention on Cluster Munitions Eighth Meeting of States Parties, Geneva, 4 September 2018. Statement of Ousman Sonko, Secretary of State for the Interior, Convention on Cluster Munitions Signing Conference, Oslo, 4 December 2008; statement of Ousman Sonko, Minister of the Interior and NGO [non-governmental organization] Affairs, Berlin Conference on the Destruction of Cluster Munitions, Berlin, 26 June 2009; statement of Gambia, Convention on Cluster Munitions First Meeting of States Parties, Vientiane, 10 November 2010. Notes by the Cluster Munition Coalition (CMC); statement of the Gambia, Convention on Cluster Munitions Second Meeting of States Parties, Beirut, 14 September 2011. Notes by the CMC.