Summary: Spain was among the first 30 ratifications to trigger the convention’s entry into force on 1 August 2010. It amended existing legislation in July 2015 to incorporate the convention’s provisions into domestic law. Spain has participated in every meeting of the convention and voted in favor of a key United Nations (UN) resolution on the convention in December 2017. Spain has elaborated its views on several important issues relating to the interpretation and implementation of the convention.

Spain states that it has never used cluster munitions. In its initial transparency report for the convention provided in 2011, Spain acknowledged past production and transfer of cluster munitions and reported that in 2009 it completed destruction of its stockpile of 4,762 cluster munitions and 232,647 submunitions. It subsequently reported the discovery of another 3,574 cluster munitions and 75,045 submunitions in 2012 that it destroyed in 2017. Spain has retained five cluster munitions and 578 submunitions for research and training purposes.

Policy

The Kingdom of Spain signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 3 December 2008, ratified on 17 June 2009, and was among the first 30 ratifications to trigger the convention’s entry into force on 1 August 2010.

A law that took effect on 30 July 2015 amended Spain’s 1998 implementing legislation for the Mine Ban Treaty (Law 33/1998) to incorporate the provisions of the Convention on Cluster Munitions.[1] Spain also amended its Penal Code in June 2010 to provide sanctions for violations of the convention’s provisions.[2]

Spanish armed forces implement the convention in accordance with Directive No. 71/2008, issued by the secretary of defense on 30 July 2008.[3] Spain declared a unilateral moratorium on use, production, and transfer of cluster munitions on 11 July 2008, prior to the convention’s entry into force.[4]

Spain submitted its initial Article 7 transparency report for the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 27 January 2011 and has provided annual updated reports ever since, most recently on 30 April 2018.[5]

Spain participated throughout the Oslo Process that created the Convention on Cluster Munitions and its position evolved significantly to embrace a comprehensive ban on all cluster munitions. Following the adoption of the convention in Dublin in May 2008, Spain rapidly began to implement its provisions.[6]

Spain has participated in every meeting of the convention.[7]

Spain regularly highlights the importance of collaboration between states, international organizations, and civil society in working for the convention’s universalization and implementation.[8] At the UN General Assembly (UNGA) First Committee on Disarmament and International Security in October 2017, Spain reiterated its call for renewed political will to achieve these objectives.[9]

In December 2017, Spain voted in favor of a UNGA resolution that calls on all states not party to the Convention on Cluster Munitions to join “as soon as possible.”[10]

Spain expressed its concern at new use of cluster munitions in 2011, when it condemned the use of Spanish-made and -supplied cluster munitions in Libya by government forces of then-leader Muammar Gaddafi.[11]

Spain has voted in favor of UNGA resolutions expressing outrage at the use of cluster munitions in Syria, most recently in December 2017.[12] It also voted in favor of a June 2015 UN Security Council resolution expressing concern at evidence of cluster munition use in Sudan.[13]

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

Interpretative issues

Spain’s implementing legislation prohibits the use, development, production, acquisition in any way, stockpile, conservation, transfer, or exportation, directly or indirectly of antipersonnel mines, cluster munitions, explosive bomblets, and weapons of similar effect.[14] It defines development as “any activity consistent with the creation of new cluster munitions or the modification of preexisting cluster munitions.”[15] The amended law specifically prohibits assisting, encouraging, or inducing anyone to participate in any activity prohibited by the convention or the implementation legislation.[16] The law also explicitly prohibits the financing of cluster munition production.[17]

The law establishes that Spain’s military cooperation and participation in military operations—by the state, its military personnel, or its nationals—with states not party to the Convention on Cluster Munitions that use cluster munitions is not prohibited.[18] This interoperability language and the prohibition on investment in cluster munition producers were subject to parliamentary debate in both houses.

After a review by the foreign affairs committee of the Chamber of Deputies, Spain approved an amendment to the draft amended law’s prohibition on advertising or publicizing cluster munitions by adding the word “financing” to prohibit financial investment in activities prohibited by legislation. It was also amended to ensure Spain implements the positive obligations of Article 21(2) of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, which require it to work for universalization of the convention and discourage non-signatories from using cluster munitions.

Use, production, and transfer

Spain has stated that it has never used cluster munitions. It produced, exported, and imported cluster munitions prior to adopting the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

In its initial Article 7 report provided in 2011, Spain listed the company Instalaza SA in Zaragoza as a manufacturer of two types of 120mm mortar projectiles containing submunitions: the ESPIN-21 and MAT-120. It reported that Instalaza and another company, Fabricaciones Extremeñas (FAEX), had closed down their manufacturing processes for cluster munitions.[19]

In 2011, Instalaza filed a claim with the government for damages and profits lost from the cancellations of sales to seven countries following the government’s 2008 decision to ban cluster munitions.[20] In 2014, media reported that Spain’s High Court had rejected Instalaza’s €59.9 million compensation claim.[21] Instalaza is not known to have appealed the decision or taken any further action.

A third company Explosivos Alaveses SA (EXPAL) is not mentioned in Spain’s Article 7 reports, but according to a 2009 letter to the Monitor, the company produced the BME-330B/AP cluster bomb, which contains eight SAP submunitions and 20 SNA submunitions.[22] According to a standard reference work, EXPAL produced two other variants of BME cluster bombs. The BME-330AT cluster bomb contained 512 SAC-1 submunitions and four MAC-2 antivehicle mines.[23] The BME-330C (multipurpose) cluster bomb contained 180 submunitions of three different types: the CP fragmentation (antipersonnel), the CH shaped charge (anti-armor), and the SNA area-denial submunitions.[24]

Spain’s legislation requires that these companies provide the minister of defense with information on the types, quantities, and lot numbers for each type of cluster munition produced or possessed, as well as information on the conversion or decommissioning of production facilities.[25]

In the past, Spain imported two variants of the Rockeye cluster bomb, the CBU-99B and CBU-100, from the United States (US).[26]

In April 2011 in Libya, government forces of Muammar Gaddafi used MAT-120 cluster munitions manufactured by Instalaza in 2007.[27] In June 2011, Spain condemned this use of cluster munitions in Libya and said it transferred MAT-120 cluster munitions to Libya in 2006 and 2008, prior to the adoption of the convention and Spain’s moratorium.[28]

Few details are known on other past Spanish exports of cluster munitions. Peru has reported a stockpile of 90 BME-330 cluster bombs and 16,200 submunitions.[29]

Stockpiling

In total, Spain once stockpiled 6,857 cluster munitions and 293,652 submunitions, as shown by the following table.

Cluster munitions once stockpiled by Spain[30]

Stockpile destruction

Under Article 3 of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, Spain was required to destroy all stockpiled cluster munitions under its jurisdiction and control as soon as possible, but not later than 1 August 2018.

Spain told Cluster Munition Monitor on 9 July 2018 that it has completed destruction of its stockpiled cluster munitions.[31]

Spain was the first signatory to the Convention on Cluster Munitions to report the completion of the destruction of its stockpile in March 2009, but three years later declared additional cluster munitions that it committed to destroy by the convention’s August 2018 deadline.[32]

In its initial Article 7 report provided in 2011, Spain reported that its armed forces destroyed a stockpile of 4,762 cluster munitions and 232,647 submunitions between December 2008 and March 2009.[33] The total cost of the destruction was €4.9 million (US$6.8 million).[34] However, in 2012, Spain reported more stocks of 3,600 MAT-120 cluster munitions and 75,598 submunitions.[35]

Spain destroyed a combined total of 5,672 cluster munitions and 251,757 submunitions by the end of 2017, including 241 MAT-120 projectiles and 5,070 submunitions in 2017.[36] In April 2018, Spain reported it was working to destroy a revised stockpile total of 1,995 MAT-120 cluster munitions and 41,895 submunitions.[37]

Spain’s implementing legislation for the convention states that costs for the destruction of cluster munitions will be covered by the owner of the cluster munitions.[38] Spain’s implementing legislation for the convention specifies the obligation to destroy all cluster munition stocks by the convention’s deadline and in accordance with public health and environmental regulations, and to report on the destruction in its annual Article 7 reports.[39]

Retention

In April 2018, Spain reported the retention of five cluster munitions and 578 submunitions for training and research purposes: two CBU-100 cluster munitions containing 494 submunitions and three BME-330 B/AP containing 84 submunitions.[40] This is a significant reduction from the original total of 711 cluster munitions and 16,562 submunitions that Spain initially reported it would retain in 2011.[41] Spain has progressively reduced the number of cluster munitions retained for training since 2011 and consumed 110 MAT-120 cluster munitions and 2,310 submunitions in 2017.[42] The cluster munitions were used to train national and foreign clearance experts at the International Demining Training Center in Madrid.[43]

Spain’s implementing legislation allows it to retain cluster munitions for training purposes, but states that the number should not exceed the minimum quantity absolutely necessary.[44] It also requires the government to report the quantity retained to parliament.

Foreign stockpiling

A US diplomatic cable dated 26 November 2008 and released by Wikileaks in 2011, indicated that US military forces store cluster munitions in Spain.[45]

Spain has not disclosed if the US still stockpiles cluster munitions in Spain. Since 2011, Spain has reported that it has informed states not party that it cooperates with in joint military operations of its obligations and adherence to international agreements on both cluster munitions and landmines, including its commitment to respect the prohibition on storing prohibited weapons on territory under its jurisdiction and control.[46]

Policy

The Kingdom of Spain signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 3 December 1997 and ratified it on 19 January 1999, becoming a State Party on 1 July 1999. Legislation to enforce the antipersonnel mine prohibition domestically was passed in October 1998.[1]

Spain has been a regular attendee at meetings of the treaty, including the Third Review Conference in Maputo in June 2014. More recently, Spain attended the Seventeenth Meeting of States Parties, where it gave a general statement and a statement on cooperation and assistance.[2] Spain regularly submits Article 7 transparency reports, but as of 15 October 2019 has not yet submitted a report for calendar year 2018.

Spain is party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons and its Amended Protocol II on landmines and Protocol V on explosive remnants of war. Spain is also party to the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

Production, use, transfer, and stockpiling

Although Spain no longer produces antipersonnel mines, it has done so in the past. Officially, Spanish production of landmines was stopped in May 1996. Spanish companies used to produce five types of antipersonnel mines, including the Expal P4B blast mine, the Expal P4A blast mine, the Expal P5 blast mine, the P5 AR (with anti-handling device), and the P Salta bounding fragmentation mine.[3] Mines were produced by five Spanish private companies: Bressel, Explosivos Alaveses (Expal), Explosivos de Burgos (EDB), Fabricaciones Extremeñas (FAEX), and Unión Española de Explosivos (UEE). Spain has also produced landmines under the license of companies of other countries.

Spain passed a unilateral moratorium on the export of landmines in 1994. In May 1996 the government approved an indefinite moratorium. It is difficult to obtain information on recipients, quantity, types, value, date of transfer, etc. from governmental sources, since these matters are considered to be a state secret. However, Spanish landmines have been found in Iraq, Mauritania, the Falklands Islands/Malvinas, and Morocco—as revealed by the Red Cross.

Spain last used antipersonnel mines in 1975 on the Moroccan border of its then-colony of Western Sahara.

Spain completed destruction of its stockpile of 496,415 antipersonnel mines on 3 October 2000, well in advance of its 1 July 2003 treaty-mandated destruction deadline. Spain initially announced it would retain 10,000 antipersonnel mines for training and development purposes but reduced this number to 4,000 in 2000, and by the end of 2018 Spain had further reduced this to 1,547 mines.[4]

In 2017, the Kingdom of Spain contributed €85,000,000 (US$96,059)[1] in mine action funding; a 19% decrease from 2016.

Contributions by recipient: 2017[2] 

Spain’s reduction in mine action support is a direct result of government-wide austerity measures. Since 2009, Spain’s contributions have dropped by more than €10 million ($14 million).

Between 2013–2017, Spain’s funding to mine action totaled €3 million ($3.7 million), this is less than 10% of the €30.5 million ($42.9 million) contributed during the previous five-year period, from 2008 to 2012.[3] 

Summary of contributions: 2013–2017[4]