Summary

Non-signatory Serbia acknowledges the humanitarian concerns raised by cluster munitions, but has not taken any steps to join the Convention on Cluster Munitions. Serbia has participated as an observer at meetings of the convention, most recently in May 2022. However, it abstained from the vote on a key United Nations (UN) resolution promoting the convention in December 2021.

Serbia possesses cluster munitions that it inherited from the break-up of the former Yugoslavia, but has not shared information on the types or quantities stockpiled. Cluster munitions were used by Yugoslavia, ethnic militias, and secessionist forces during the conflicts that resulted from the break-up of Yugoslavia in the 1990s. North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) forces used air-dropped cluster munitions in Serbia during the 1998–1999 conflict over Kosovo.

Policy

The Republic of Serbia has not acceded to the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

Serbia has acknowledged the humanitarian concerns raised by cluster munitions, but has not taken any steps to accede to the convention.[1] Serbia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has generally supported the convention, while the Ministry of Defense has rejected calls for Serbia’s accession.[2] For example, in 2015, the Minister of Defense said the government could not consider ratifying the convention before it acquires new weapons to replace its stockpiled cluster munitions.[3]

Serbia played a leadership role throughout the Oslo Process that created the Convention on Cluster Munitions, most notably by hosting a major international conference for states affected by cluster munitions in Belgrade in October 2007.[4] Serbia actively participated in the formal negotiations in Dublin in May 2008 and joined in the consensus adoption of the convention text.

Despite playing an important and influential role in the diplomatic process, Serbia attended the Oslo Signing Conference in December 2008 only as an observer and did not explain why it was not signing the convention. Local media reported that internal actions directed at signing the convention halted after the General Staff of the Serbian Army recommended to the National Security Council that Serbia not join it.[5]

Serbia has participated as an observer at the convention’s meetings, including the Second Review Conference held in November 2020 and September 2021.[6] Serbia also attended the convention’s intersessional meetings held in Geneva in May 2022.

In December 2021, Serbia abstained from the vote on the annual United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) resolution urging states outside the Convention on Cluster Munitions to “join as soon as possible.”[7]

Civilian harm from the use of cluster munitions in Ukraine in 2022 has attracted Serbian media coverage and drawn attention to Serbia’s lack of participation in the convention.[8]

Civil society representatives in Serbia, particularly cluster munition survivors, have advocated for Serbia to accede to the Convention on Cluster Munitions without delay.[9]

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

Production

In 2011, the Ministry of Defense stated that Serbia “is not a producer of cluster munitions.”[10] Previously, in 2009, Serbia said that it lacked the capacity to produce cluster munitions and had not produced them since the dissolution of the former Yugoslavia.[11] Serbia may have inherited some production capabilities, according to standard reference works.[12] In the past, several Serbian companies have advertised surface-to-surface rocket launchers, rockets, and artillery that could be used with either unitary warheads or submunitions.[13]

Transfers and stockpiling

The precise size and composition of Serbia’s stockpile of cluster munitions is not known, but it is comprised of air-delivered cluster bombs, ground-launched rockets, and artillery projectiles.

Serbia’s stockpile contains cluster munitions produced by the former Yugoslavia, such as 120mm M93 mortar projectiles (containing 23 KB-2 submunitions), 152mm 3-O-23 artillery projectiles (containing 63 KB-2 submunitions), and 262mm M87 Orkan surface-to-surface rockets (containing 288 KB-1 submunitions). The KB-series submunitions are of dual-purpose improved conventional munition (DPICM) type. Serbia may also possess RAB-120 and KPT-150 cluster bombs.[14] In 2004, Jane’s Information Group listed Serbia as possessing BL755 cluster bombs.[15]

In 2011, Serbia’s Ministry of Economy and Regional Development told the Monitor that it had no records in its database detailing any foreign trade of cluster munitions in the period from 2005 to 2010.[16]

In 2013 and 2015, the Ministry of Defense stated that the Serbian Army had taken steps to recall from operational use “part” of its cluster munition stockpile and initiate its disposal.[17] No further information has been provided on the quantities and types of stocks or the status of the destruction process.

Use

There has been no evidence or allegations that Serbia has used cluster munitions since the Convention on Cluster Munitions was adopted in 2008. Serbia’s Minister of Defense said in April 2015 that “the Army of Serbia has taken steps and implemented activities to recall from operational use a part of cluster munitions [sic] and start with its disposal.”[18] He provided several reasons for doing so, including “the ban on use, the limited shelf-life of the cluster munitions available, and the limited possibilities of the military industry in regard of repairs and [performance] enhancement” of the cluster munitions.

Forces of the former Yugoslavia, as well as ethnic militias and secessionist forces, used cluster munitions during the conflicts resulting from the break-up of Yugoslavia starting in 1991. During the 1998–1999 conflict over Kosovo, aircraft from the Netherlands, the United Kingdom (UK), and the United States (US) dropped cluster bombs in Serbia and Kosovo during a NATO air campaign.[19] During the Kosovo conflict, forces of the former Yugoslavia also launched several cluster munition rocket attacks into border regions controlled by Albania.