Mali
Cluster Munition Ban Policy
Summary: State Party Mali ratified the convention on 30 June 2010. It has participated several meetings of the convention, but not since 2014. Mali voted in favor of a key UN resolution promoting the convention in December 2018.
Mali provided an initial transparency report for the convention in May 2016, which confirms it never produced cluster munitions and possesses no stockpiles, including for research or training. Mali states that it has never used or transferred cluster munitions.
Policy
The Republic of Malisigned the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 3 December 2008, ratified on 30 June 2010, and the convention entered into force for the country on 1 December 2010.
Mali has not enacted specific national implementation legislation to enforce the convention’s provisions. [1]
Mali provided its initial Article 7 transparency report for the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 3 May 2016, covering calendar year 2015. It has not submitted annual updated reports, which are due by 30 April.
Mali actively participated in the Oslo Process that created the convention and advocated for a total ban on cluster munitions without exception and with immediate effect. [2]
Mali attended several meetings of the convention, but not since 2014. [3]
In December 2018, Mali voted in favor of a UN General Assembly (UNGA) resolution promoting implementation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions. [4] It has voted in favor of the annual UNGA resolution promoting the convention since it was first introduced in 2015.
During the treaty negotiations, Mali argued against including Article 21 on interoperability (relations with states not party). [5] It has not elaborated its views on other important issues regarding interpretation and implementation of the convention, such as the prohibition on foreign stockpiling and transit of cluster munitions, and the prohibition on investment in cluster munition production.
Mali is party to the Mine Ban Treaty. It is also party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons.
Use, production, transfer, and stockpiling
In May 2016, Mali confirmed that it has never produced cluster munitions and does not possess any stocks, including for research and training. [6] Mali has stated on several occasions that it has never transferred or used cluster munitions. [7]
[1] Mali did not complete Form A (national implementation measures) in the Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 7 Report submitted on 3 May 2016. In 2011, Mali expressed an interest in pursuing implementing legislation for the convention, but it has not taken any steps towards this goal since then. Statement of Mali, Convention on Cluster Munitions Intersessional Meetings, Session on Victim Assistance, Geneva, 28 June 2011. Notes by the Cluster Munition Coalition (CMC).
[2] For details on Mali’s cluster munition policy and practice through early 2009, see Human Rights Watch and Landmine Action, Banning Cluster Munitions: Government Policy and Practice (Ottawa: Mines Action Canada, May 2009), pp. 115–116.
[3] Mali participated in the convention’s Meetings of States Parties until 2014 and the intersessional meetings in 2011. It did not attend the First Review Conference in September 2015. It has participated regional workshops, most recently in Lome, Togo in May 2013.
[4] “Implementation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions,” UNGA Resolution 73/54, 5 December 2018.
[5] Statement of Mali, Committee of the Whole on Article 1, Dublin Diplomatic Conference on Cluster Munitions, 27 May 2008. Notes by Landmine Action.
[6] Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 7 Report, Forms B and E, 3 May 2016.
[7] Statement of Mali, Lomé Regional Seminar on the Universalization of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, Lomé, Togo, 22 May 2013. Notes by Action on Armed Violence (AOAV); statement of Mali, Convention on Cluster Munitions Third Meeting of States Parties, Oslo, 12 September 2012; and statement of Mali, Convention on Cluster Munitions First Meeting of States Parties, Vientiane, 10 November 2010. Notes by the CMC.