Niger
Cluster Munition Ban Policy
Summary: State Party Niger was among the first 30 ratifications to trigger the convention’s entry into force on 1 August 2010. Niger has participated in meetings of the convention, most recently in September 2017. It has elaborated its views on certain important issues related to interpretation and implementation of the convention.
Niger provided an initial transparency report for the convention in June 2017, confirming that it has never produced cluster munitions and does not possess any stocks, including for research and training. Niger has never used or transferred cluster munitions.
Policy
The Republic of Niger signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 3 December 2008 and ratified on 2 June 2009. It was among the first 30 ratifications that triggered the convention’s entry into force on 1 August 2010.
Niger has not adopted any national implementing legislation for the convention. [1]
Niger submitted its initial Article 7 transparency report for the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 8 June 2017. [2] As of 25 June 2019, it had not provided an annual updated report for calendar year 2018.
Niger participated in the Oslo Process that produced the convention and supported a comprehensive treaty without exception. [3]
Niger has participated in every meeting of the convention, except the Eighth Meeting of States Parties in Geneva in September 2018. [4]
In December 2018, Niger voted in favor of a United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) resolution urging states to join the Convention on Cluster Munitions “as soon as possible.” [5]
Niger has expressed regret at the use of cluster munitions. [6]
Niger has elaborated its views on certain important issues related to interpretation and implementation of the convention. An official informed the Monitor in 2013 that Niger considered transit and foreign stockpiling of cluster munitions on the territory of a State Party to be prohibited under the convention. Similarly, Niger considers assistance during joint military operations with states not party that may use cluster munitions and investment in the production of cluster munitions to be banned by the convention. [7]
Niger is party to the Mine Ban Treaty. It is also party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons.
Use, production, transfer, and stockpiling
Niger reported in 2017 that it has never produced cluster munitions and does not possess any stocks, including for research and training purposes. [8] Niger has stated it has never transferred or used cluster munitions. [9]
[1] In 2017, Niger reported that “pas encore établi” or “not yet established” under national implementation measures for the convention. Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 7 Report, Form A, 8 June 2017.
[2] The report covers the period from 1 January 2011 to 31 May 2017. It was originally due by 28 January 2011.
[3] For details on Niger’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. 133–134.
[4] It also attended the convention’s First Review Conference in 2015, intersessional meetings in 2012–2015, and regional workshops on the convention.
[5] “Implementation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions,” UNGA Resolution 73/54, 5 December 2018. It voted in favor of the UNGA resolution in 2015 and 2016, but was absent from the vote in 2017.
[6] Statement of Niger, Convention on Cluster Munitions Fifth Meeting of States Parties, San Jose, 3 September 2014. Notes by Human Rights Watch.
[7] Monitor meeting with Allassan Fousseini, CNCCAI, in Geneva, 28 May 2013.
[8] The Article 7 report contains the following statements: “Le Niger n a pas de stock d’armes à sous munitions,” and “Niger ne produit pas des armes à sous munitions.” Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 7 Report, Forms B, C, D, and E, 8 June 2017.
[9] Letter No. 001581 from Aïchatou Mindaoudou Souleymane, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Cooperation and African Integration, 3 March 2009.