Namibia
Cluster Munition Ban Policy
Summary
Namibia ratified the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 31 August 2018. Namibia has participated in every Meeting of States Parties of the convention. It voted in favor of the key annual United Nations (UN) resolution promoting the convention in December 2021.
Namibia provided an initial Article 7 transparency report for the convention in August 2019, which formally confirmed that it has never produced cluster munitions and does not possess any stocks, including for research and training purposes.
Policy
The Republic of Namibia signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 3 December 2008 and ratified it on 31 August 2018. The convention entered into force for the country on 1 February 2019.
Namibia has amended its national Arms and Ammunition Act to reflect its obligations under the Convention on Cluster Munitions.[1] In May 2022, Namibia reported that it was in the process of repealing the Explosives Act, after the Arms and Ammunition Act was amended.[2]
Namibia submitted its initial Article 7 transparency report for the convention on 27 August 2019.[3] It provided an updated report on 13 May 2022, indicating no changes from the initial report.[4]
Namibia participated in two African regional meetings held during the Oslo Process that created the Convention on Cluster Munitions.[5]
Namibia has attended every Meeting of States Parties of the convention, and participated in the Second Review Conference held in November 2020 and September 2021.[6] It did not attend the convention’s intersessional meetings held in May 2022, but participated in previous intersessional meetings in 2013–2015.
In December 2021, Namibia voted in favor of a key United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) resolution that urged states outside the Convention on Cluster Munitions to “join as soon as possible.”[7] It has voted in favor of the annual UNGA resolution promoting the convention since it was first introduced in 2015.
Namibia has condemned new use of cluster munitions, expressing “abhorrence and strong disapproval” of use of the weapons.[8]
Namibia 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
Namibia’s initial Article 7 report, provided in August 2019, formally confirmed that it has never produced cluster munitions and possesses no stocks, including for research and training purposes.[9]
Namibia has reiterated on several past occasions that it has never used, produced, transferred, or stockpiled cluster munitions.[10]
[1] Namibia has not detailed how its amended law will be enforced with fiscal and/or penal sanctions. Namibia Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 7 Report, Form A, 27 August 2019. See, Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 7 Database.
[2] Namibia Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 7 Report, Form A, 13 May 2022.
[3] The report was originally due by 31 July 2019.
[4] Namibia Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 7 Report (for the period 1 April 2021 to 31 March 2022).
[5] For details on Namibia’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), p. 123.
[6] Namibia was invited to, but did not attend, the First Review Conference in Dubrovnik in September 2015.
[7] “Implementation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions,” UNGA Resolution 76/47, 6 December 2021.
[8] Statement of Namibia, Convention on Cluster Munitions Fifth Meeting of States Parties, San Jose, 3 September 2014.
[9] Namibia Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 7 Report, Forms B, C, D and E, 27 August 2019.
[10] See, for example, statement of Namibia, Opening Ceremony, Convention on Cluster Munitions Fourth Meeting of States Parties, Lusaka, 9 September 2013; statement of Namibia, Kampala Conference on the Convention on Cluster Munitions, Kampala, 30 September 2008. Notes by the CMC; and statement of Namibia, Convention on Cluster Munitions Third Meeting of States Parties, Oslo, 13 September 2012. Namibia is reported to possess Grad 122mm surface-to-surface rockets, but it is not known if these include versions with submunition payloads. International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), The Military Balance 2011 (London: Routledge, 2011), p. 434.