Summary

Non-signatory Mongolia has shown interest in the Convention on Cluster Munitions, but has not taken any steps to join it. Mongolia last participated in a meeting of the convention in 2019. It voted in favor of a key United Nations (UN) resolution promoting the convention in December 2021.

Mongolia is not known to have used, produced, or exported cluster munitions. In 2014, a government representative said that Mongolia does not possess any stocks of cluster munitions.

Policy

Mongolia has not acceded to the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

Mongolian officials have expressed interest in the convention, but no steps have been taken to accede to it. Mongolia has called cluster munitions “one of the most inhumane weapons of today,” and told States Parties that “the only guarantee against the risk of the use and proliferation of these weapons is their total elimination.”[1]

Mongolia did not participate in the Oslo Process that created the convention. Mongolia first participated in a meeting related to the convention in November 2009, when it attended a regional workshop on cluster munitions held in Bali, Indonesia.

Mongolia has participated as an observer at several of the convention’s meetings, most recently the Ninth Meeting of States Parties in Geneva in September 2019.[2] It was invited to, but did not attend, the convention’s Second Review Conference held in November 2020 and September 2021.

In December 2021, Mongolia voted in favor of a key United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) resolution urging states outside the Convention on Cluster Munitions to “join as soon as possible.”[3] Mongolia has voted in favor of the annual resolution promoting the convention since it was first introduced in 2015.

Mongolia is not party to the Mine Ban Treaty. It is party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW).

Use, production, transfer, and stockpiling

Mongolia is not known to have used, produced, or exported cluster munitions.

In September 2014, a representative of the Mongolian Armed Forces told the Monitor that Mongolia possesses no stockpiles of cluster munitions.[4]

Jane’s Information Group reported in 2004 that the country’s air force had KMGU dispensers that deliver submunitions.[5] Mongolia possesses Grad 122mm surface-to-surface launchers, but it is not known whether these include rockets with submunition payloads.[6]

Policy

Mongolia has not acceded to the Mine Ban Treaty and did not fulfill its objective, announced in 2004, of joining the treaty in 2008 through a step-by-step approach.[1]

In June 2011, Mongolia informed States Parties that it “continues to pursue a step-by-step (or phased) policy towards accession to the Convention due to a range of security and economic concerns.”[2] However, it did not mention the interagency action plan to accede to the Mine Ban Treaty that it had announced at the Tenth Meeting of States Parties in 2010 and at the Second Review Conference in 2009.[3] In December 2010, Mongolia informed States Parties that it would join the treaty “in the near future.”[4] Earlier, in October 2010, during a United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) debate, Mongolia stated that “Just a few days ago the Prime Minister re-affirmed Mongolia’s commitment to accede to the Convention.”[5] In December 2021, Ministry of Defence of Mongolia responded to the Monitor that it would proceed step-by-step to join the convention. Yet it did not provide a timeline, and the steps that it noted as having already taken occurred in 2006–2007.[6]

Mongolia has repeatedly stated that it has limited resources to implement the treaty, especially with respect to stockpile destruction, and has encouraged “cooperation, assistance and support” from other countries and international organizations.[7] In the past, representatives have expressed concern about whether Mongolia would receive international assistance for stockpile destruction and for clearance of areas contaminated with unexploded ordnance (UXO), especially Soviet-era firing ranges.[8]

Mongolia has infrequently attended Mine Ban Treaty meetings, and has not participated as an observer since the Eleventh Meeting of States Parties in November–December 2011. Mongolia was invited to, but did not attend, the convention’s Fourth Review Conference held in Oslo in November 2019.

On 6 December 2021, Mongolia voted in favor of annual UNGA Resolution 76/26 that called for universalization and full implementation of the Mine Ban Treaty, as in previous years.[9]

Mongolia is party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW), but is not party to CCW Amended Protocol II on landmines or Protocol V on explosive remnants of war (ERW). Mongolia is also not party to the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

Use, stockpiling, production, and transfer

In December 2021, the Ministry of Defence of Mongolia told the Monitor that “Mongolia does not produce, sell or transfer mines. It […] does not utilize mines to defend its borders during peace and war. Mongolia is one of those countries that does not have minefields or lands contaminated by landmines.” Mongolia stressed that it does not violate the prohibitions of the convention, with the exception of storage.[10]

Mongolia submitted a voluntary Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 transparency report in August 2007.[11] The report revealed a stockpile of 206,417 antipersonnel mines, imported from the Soviet Union.[12] At the government’s invitation, in July 2009, technical experts from the Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining (GICHD) investigated the condition of Mongolia’s landmine stocks. At the Second Review Conference in 2009, Mongolia reported that it had destroyed 100 antipersonnel mines during the previous year and that it would destroy another 100 in the following year, in order to identify an environmentally safe and cost-effective method of destruction.[13]

In December 2010, Mongolia stated that it possessed a stockpile of 206,317 antipersonnel mines (100 fewer than reported in August 2007) and that it would destroy another 380 mines in 2011, in order to demonstrate “our step-by-step approach to join the Convention.”[14] However, in June 2011, Mongolia reported that it had 206,307 antipersonnel mines following the destruction of 110 antipersonnel mines to “define an appropriate mine destruction technique friendly to the environment.”[15] A representative of the Ministry of Defense could not provide any information on the method of destruction used, but confirmed that Mongolia would not necessarily need to retain any live landmines for training purposes, since it uses inert mines in its training programs.[16]

In the past, Mongolia has often stated that it has never used antipersonnel mines on its territory.[17] In December 2010, Mongolia reaffirmed that it will not “transfer, acquire or place landmines.”[18]