Dominican Republic

Cluster Munition Ban Policy

Last updated: 12 October 2010

Commitment to the Convention on Cluster Munitions

Convention on Cluster Munitions status

Signatory

Participation in Convention on Cluster Munitions meetings

Attended a global conference in Santiago in June 2010 and a regional meeting in Santiago in September 2009

Key developments

Signed on 10 November 2009; ratification underway

Policy

The Dominican Republic signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 10 November 2009. Its Permanent Representative to the UN in New York, Ambassador Federico Alberto Cuello Camilo, signed on behalf of the Dominican Republic.

On 23 February 2010, ratification of the convention was referred to the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation.[1] The timeframe for completion of ratification is not known.

The Dominican Republic attended the Regional Conference for Latin America and the Caribbean on Cluster Munitions, held in Santiago, Chile in September 2009, as well as the International Conference on the Convention on Cluster Munitions, also held in Santiago, in June 2010.

The Dominican Republic joined the Oslo Process shortly after its launch, when it attended the Lima Conference on Cluster Munitions in May 2007 and stated its support for the creation of a legally-binding instrument to ban cluster munitions.[2] It also attended a regional meeting held in Costa Rica in September 2007, and the international meetings to develop the convention text held in Vienna in December 2007 and Wellington in February 2008. In Wellington, the Dominican Republic reconfirmed its commitment to ban cluster munitions and endorsed the Wellington Declaration committing it to participate in the formal negotiations of an instrument prohibiting cluster munitions.[3]

During the Dublin negotiations, the Dominican Republic supported a strong treaty text, including on victim assistance.[4] It was one of the 107 states that adopted the Convention on Cluster Munitions in Dublin on 30 May 2008.

Yet, the Dominican Republic did not sign the convention in Oslo in December 2008. In October 2009, a government representative told the CMC that the Dominican Republic had intended to sign in Oslo, but did not receive its “full powers” from capital in time.[5]

The Dominican Republic is party to the Mine Ban Treaty. It is also party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW), but it has not ratified Protocol V on explosive remnants of war. The Dominican Republic has not actively participated in CCW deliberations on cluster munitions in recent years.

In February 2008, the Dominican Republic stated that it “does not use, stockpile, produce, or have anything to do with cluster munitions.”[6]

 



[1] Order No. 00139, Bill 07293-2010-PLO-SE, Secretariat General of the First Extraordinary Period of Sessions of 2010 of the Dominican Senate, 23 June 2010, www.senado.gov.do. See also, “Senado aprueba emisión de bonos a ser utilizados en construcción de obras políticas” (“Senate approves issue of bonds to be used in policy construction”), Listín Digital (Santo Domingo),3 March 2010, www2.listindiario.com.

[2] Statement of the Dominican Republic, Lima Conference on Cluster Munitions, 24 May 2007. Notes by the CMC.

[3] Statement of the Dominican Republic, Wellington Conference on Cluster Munitions, 18 February 2008. Notes by the CMC.

[4] Summary Record of the Committee of the Whole, Eighth Session: 23 May 2008, Dublin Diplomatic Conference, CCM/CW/SR/8, 18 June 2008; and Summary Record of the Committee of the Whole, Sixth Session: 22 May 2008, Dublin Diplomatic Conference, CCM/CW/SR/6, 18 June 2008.

[5] CMC meeting with Joan Margarita Cedano, Minister Counsellor, Permanent Mission of the Dominican Republic to the UN in New York, 23 October 2009.

[6] Statement of the Dominican Republic, Wellington Conference on Cluster Munitions, 22 February 2008. Notes by the CMC.