Five-Year Review: State Party Senegal ratified the convention on 3 August 2011 and views existing legislation as sufficient to enforce its implementation of the convention. Senegal has participated in all of the convention’s Meetings of States Parties and it has elaborated its views on certain important issues relating to the convention’s interpretation and implementation. Senegal has condemned new use of cluster munitions. In its initial transparency report for the convention provided in 2014, Senegal confirmed it has never used, produced, transferred, or stockpiled cluster munitions and has not retained any for research or training.

Policy

The Republic of Senegalsigned the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 3 December 2008 and ratified on 3 August 2011. The convention entered into force for Senegal on 1 February 2012.

Senegal has reported that “it is not necessary to put in place legislation or regulation because Senegal is not a country affected by cluster munitions.”[1] It lists its 2010 ratification legislation under national implementation measures.[2] Previously, in 2012 and 2013, government officials indicated that Senegal was considering enacting specific legislation to enforce the provisions of the ban convention in domestic law.[3]

Senegal provided its initial Article 7 transparency report for the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 3 October 2012, and submitted an annual updated report on 2 April 2014.[4] As of 8 July 2015, Senegal had not provided the updated report for calendar year 2014, which was due by 30 April 2015.

Senegal actively participated in the Oslo Process that created the convention and sought a total and immediate ban on cluster munitions with no exceptions.[5]

Senegal has continued to actively engage in the work of the Convention on Cluster Munitions. It has participated in every Meeting of States Parties to the convention, including the Fifth Meeting of States Parties in San José, Costa Rica in September 2014. Senegal has attended all of the convention’s intersessional meetings in Geneva, including those held in June 2015. It has participated in regional workshops on the convention, most recently in Lomé, Togo in May 2013.

At the Fifth Meeting of States Parties in September 2014, Senegal called on states that have not yet done so, especially from Africa, to accede to the convention and implement its provisions.[6] At the UN General Assembly (UNGA) First Committee on Disarmament and International Security in October 2014, Senegal encouraged states to join the convention before its First Review Conference in Dubrovnik, Croatia in September 2015.[7] Senegal expressed its support for the convention again at the end of the 2014 UNGA First Committee, describing it as a significant advancement for the protection of civilians and in strengthening international humanitarian law.[8]

In September 2014, Senegal said it “condemns recent use of cluster munitions in certain parts of the world” and called for the weapons’ destruction to create a world free of cluster munitions.[9] Senegal has voted in favor of recent UNGA resolutions condemning the use of cluster munitions in Syria, including Resolution 69/189 on 18 December 2014, which expressed “outrage” at the continued use.[10] 

Senegal is a State Party to the Mine Ban Treaty. It is also party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons.

Interpretive issues

Senegal has elaborated its views on a number of important issues relating to the interpretation and implementation of the convention. In 2012, Senegal stated its view that assistance with acts prohibited under the convention during joint military operations with states not party is prohibited by the convention. Senegal said that its commitment to humanitarian disarmament prevents it from participating in any military operations using cluster munitions.[11]

In 2011, Senegal stated that it considers foreign stockpiling and transfer of cluster munitions a violation of the convention. On the issue of investment in cluster munition production, Senegal expressed its view that investment in cluster munitions would similarly be prohibited by the convention.[12]

In September 2014, Senegal affirmed that it considers the transfer and foreign stockpiling of cluster munitions, as well as the investment in cluster munition production, to constitute violations of the Convention on Cluster Munitions.[13]

Use, production, transfer, and stockpiling

Senegal has reported that it has never used, produced, transferred, or stockpiled cluster munitions.[14] It has not retained any cluster munitions for training or research purposes.[15]