(Clearance completed)

Contamination

The Kingdom of Norway has fulfilled its Article 4 obligations to clear cluster munition remnants, having completed clearance of the sole confirmed area containing cluster munition remnants in September 2013.[1]

The area that was contaminated is on the Norwegian mainland, part of the former Hjerkinn shooting range in the Dovre mountain area, in Oppland county. The hazardous area, known as “HFK-sletta,” was used for test firing artillery-delivered cluster munitions (DM 1383 and DM 1385) in the period 1986–2007. It covered a total area of 617,300m². The shooting range is in the process of being decommissioned, and cluster munition clearance was part of a larger explosive ordnance disposal operation conducted by the Norwegian defence forces.[2] 

In its initial Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 7 report in 2011, and in subsequent Article 7 reports in 2012 and 2013, Norway reported that the contaminated area contained an estimated 30 unexploded submunitions.[3] However, upon completion of cluster munition survey and clearance, Norway declared that only two bomblets had been destroyed between the start of operations in 2008 and completion in 2013.[4] 

In March 2014, Norway reported under the Convention on Conventional Weapons, that clearance of cluster munition contamination had been completed in late 2013 and that the remaining area contaminated by other unexploded ordinance (UXO) was expected to be cleared by 2020.[5] At the Convention on Cluster Munitions intersessional meetings in April 2014, Norway announced completion of cluster munition clearance,[6] and its April 2014 Article 7 transparency report declared that clearance had been completed by the third quarter of 2013.[7] Cluster munition clearance was conducted by a dedicated explosive detection dog unit, comprising three dog handlers and eight dogs engaged in searching “boxes” of 10m².[8]

At the Fifth Meeting of States Parties in September 2014, Norway announced it had submitted its formal Declaration of Article 4 Compliance to the UN on 29 August 2014, and, as such, had completed its clearance obligations under the Convention.[9]

Article 4 Compliance

Under Article 4 of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, Norway was required to destroy all cluster munition remnants in areas under its jurisdiction or control as soon as possible, but not later than 1 August 2020. Norway completed cluster munition clearance nearly seven years before its deadline.

In its declaration of Article 4 compliance, Norway stated that as of 9 September 2013 it had made every effort to identify all areas under its jurisdiction "and" control[10] contaminated by cluster munitions, and that as of that date it had cleared and destroyed all cluster munitions found, in accordance with Article 4 of the Convention on Cluster Munitions.[11]