Summary: State Party Zambia was among the first 30 ratifications to trigger the convention’s entry into force on 1 August 2010. Since 2013, it has reported that draft implementing legislation would soon be introduced for parliamentary approval. Zambia was a lead sponsor on a UN resolution on the convention in December 2015. It has participated in all of the convention’s meetings and hosted the Fourth Meeting of States Parties in Lusaka in September 2013, serving as the convention’s president until September 2014. Zambia has served as the convention’s co-coordinator on universalization since September 2015 and has condemned new use of cluster munitions. It has elaborated its views on several important matters relating to the interpretation and implementation of the convention.

In its initial transparency report for the convention provided in 2011, Zambia confirmed it has never used, produced, or transferred cluster munitions and does not stockpile cluster munitions, including for training or research.

Policy

The Republic of Zambia signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 3 December 2008 and ratified on 12 August 2009. It was among the first 30 ratifications that triggered the convention’s entry into force on 1 August 2010.

Zambia has expressed its intent to enact specific implementation legislation for the conventionand since 2013 has reported that draft implementing legislation will soon be submitted for parliamentary consideration.[1]

Zambia submitted its initial Article 7 transparency report for the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 21 January 2011 and provided annual updated reports since then that indicate no change, most recently on 31 May 2015.[2]

Zambia played an influential leadership role during the Oslo Process that created the Convention on Cluster Munitions. It hosted a regional conference in Livingstone in March–April 2008 that helped generate broad and united support from many African states for a comprehensive convention.[3]

Zambia plays an active leadership role in the Convention on Cluster Munitions. It hosted the convention’s Fourth Meeting of States Parties in Lusaka on 9–13 September 2013 and served as president of the convention until September 2014. It also served as co-coordinator on the general status and operation of the convention in 2012–2013.[4] Zambia has served as the convention’s co-coordinator on universalization since September 2015.

Zambia participated in and served as a vice-president of the convention’s First Review Conference in Dubrovnik, Croatia in September 2015. In an address to the high-level segment of the meeting, Zambia’s deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs noted how the “convention was born out of focused and constructive efforts of multiple actors working in partnership towards a shared objective which is aimed at ending all forms of suffering caused by cluster munitions.”[5] The representative also welcomed the appointment of Sheila Mweemba of Zambia as director of the convention’s newly established Implementation Support Unit.

Zambia has participated in every Meeting of States Parties of the convention as well as intersessional meetings in Geneva in 2011–2015. It has attended regional meetings on cluster munitions and hosted a regional seminar on the convention for Southern African Development Community (SADC) states in Lusaka in June 2015.[6]

Zambia was a lead sponsor on and voted in favor of a UN General Assembly (UNGA) resolution on the convention, which urges all states not party to the convention to join “as soon as possible.”[7] A total of 140 countries voted to adopt the non-binding resolution on 7 December 2015, including many non-signatories.

Zambia has consistently condemned the use of cluster munitions. At the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) in November 2015, Zambia said “we condemn the continued use of cluster munitions.”[8] At the First Review Conference in September 2015, Zambia condemned new use of cluster munitions in South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, and Ukraine.[9] In June 2015, Zambia affirmed the importance of strongly condemning the use of cluster munitions “wherever they have been used.”[10] Zambia has also voted in favor of UNGA resolutions condemning the use of cluster munitions in Syria, most recently in December 2015.[11]

Interpretive issues

Zambia has elaborated its views on several important matters related to the interpretation and implementation of the convention. In May 2008, during the convention’s negotiations, Zambia expressed concern about the proposed article on “interoperability” (joint military operations with states not party) and stated that it understood that the provisions for interoperability in Article 21 did not provide a loophole for States Parties to allow the transit or indefinite stockpiling of cluster munitions on their territories.[12]

In April 2009, the Minister of Foreign Affairs stated that Zambia does not believe that States Parties to the convention should “in any way assist the use [or] transfer of cluster bombs within or without their territories in the name of joint operations.”[13] In 2009, the director of the Zambia Mine Action Centre (ZMAC) stated that Zambia believed that the prohibition on assistance prohibits investment in the production of cluster munitions.[14]

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

Use, production, transfer, and stockpiling

Zambia has reported that it has never produced cluster munitions and does not stockpile the weapon, including for training or research.[15] Zambia has also stated that it has not transferred cluster munitions.[16]