Summary

State Party Peru ratified the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 26 September 2012. It voted in favor of a key United Nations (UN) resolution promoting the convention in December 2021. Peru has participated in every meeting of the convention, most recently in May 2022.

Peru has never used, produced, or exported cluster munitions, but has imported them and possesses a stockpile. Peru destroyed 296 cluster munitions and 3,000 submunitions from its stockpile during 2021, and was granted an extension of its stockpile destruction deadline until April 2024.

Policy

The Republic of Peru signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 3 December 2008 and ratified it on 26 September 2012. The convention entered into force for the country on 1 March 2013.

Peru regards its existing laws as sufficient to guide and enforce its implementation of the convention.[1]

Peru submitted its initial Article 7 transparency report for the convention on 1 August 2013 and has provided annual updated reports since then, most recently in May 2022.[2]

As part of the core group of nations that took responsibility for the Oslo Process that created the convention, Peru hosted an international conference on cluster munitions in Lima in May 2007.[3]

Peru has participated in every meeting of the convention, including the Second Review Conference held in November 2020 and September 2021.[4] Peru also attended the convention’s intersessional meetings in May 2022, where it provided an update on its progress on stockpile destruction.[5]

In December 2021, Peru voted in favor of the key United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) resolution urging full implementation of the convention.[6] Peru has voted in favor of the annual UNGA resolution promoting the convention since it was first introduced in 2015.

Peru has condemned the “alarming” and “horrendous” use of cluster munitions in Syria and other countries.[7] It has voted in favor of Human Rights Council resolutions condemning use of cluster munitions in Syria.[8] Peru has also voted in favor of UNGA resolutions expressing outrage at the use of cluster munitions in Syria.[9]

In September 2017, Peru elaborated its views on the convention’s prohibition on assisting with activities prohibited by the convention, stating that it interprets Article 1 as prohibiting investments in the production of cluster munitions; that is to say, it bans the provision of financial assistance to producers of cluster munitions.[10]

Peru has not commented on other important issues related to the interpretation and implementation of the convention, including the prohibition on transit and foreign stockpiling of cluster munitions, and interoperability provisions on participating in joint military operations with states not party that may use cluster munitions.

Peru is a State Party to the Mine Ban Treaty. It is also party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW).

Use, production, and transfer

Peru’s initial Article 7 transparency report, submitted in 2013, formally confirms that it has never produced cluster munitions.[11] Peru is not known to have ever used or exported cluster munitions. However, Peru has imported cluster munitions and possesses a stockpile.

Stockpiling

Peru once held a stockpile totaling 2,012 cluster munitions and 162,417 submunitions, comprised of two types of air-delivered cluster munitions (BME-330 cluster bombs from Spain, and RBK-series cluster bombs from Russia/Soviet Union) plus Alpha bomblets made in South Africa.[12]

Cluster munitions once stockpiled by Peru[13]

Peru has adjusted its reported total of stockpiled cluster munitions several times since 2013, when it initially declared a stockpile of 676 cluster munitions of three types, and 86,280 submunitions.[14] In 2016, Peru reported an additional 1,331 cluster munitions and 66,894 submunitions.[15] In 2020, it reported that 8,445 Alpha bomblets were discovered during a 2018 inspection of stocks, along with five additional RBK-250-275 AO-1SCh cluster bombs.[16]

Stockpile destruction

Under Article 3 of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, Peru is required to declare and destroy all stockpiled cluster munitions under its jurisdiction or control as soon as possible, but not later than 1 April 2024.

Until 2019, Peru had pledged to destroy its stocks by the initial deadline of 1 March 2021.[17] Yet in March 2020, it requested an extension to its deadline for stockpile destruction by three years.[18] In 2021, Peru’s stockpile destruction deadline was extended until 1 April 2024.

The Peruvian Air Force is responsible for destroying the stockpiled cluster munitions, which are held at six air bases that it says are “restricted areas to unauthorized military personnel and civilians.”[19] Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA) has provided technical support to Peru’s stockpile destruction activities since 2015.[20]

Peru has reported destroying 619 cluster munitions and 15,792 submunitions from its stocks since starting the stockpile destruction process in 2017.[21] This includes 296 cluster munitions and 3,000 Alpha submunitions destroyed in 2021.[22]

Peru reported that the number of cluster munitions and submunitions destroyed in 2021 was lower than planned, due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on operations. Previously, in 2020, Peru destroyed 160 cluster munitions and 8,595 submunitions.[23]

As of the end of 2021, Peru had 1,401 cluster munitions and 112,580 submunitions left to destroy from its stocks.

Retention

Since 2013, Peru has reported that it does not intend to retain any cluster munitions for research or training in detection, clearance, and destruction techniques.[24]