Commitment to the Convention on Cluster Munitions

Policy

The Dominican Republic signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 10 November 2009.

In April 2011, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs indicated that the Dominican Republic was on track to complete its ratification of the convention by September 2011.[1]

On 26 January 2011, the Supreme Court issued a declaration that ratification of the convention conforms with the country’s new Constitution.[2] Ratification documents were submitted to the Senate on 28 February 2011 and approved on 21 March 2011.[3] As of early April 2011, signature by the president of the Dominican Congress was required to complete the process.[4]

The Dominican Republic participated in meetings on cluster munitions in 2009 and 2010, but did not attend the First Meeting of States Parties to the Convention on Cluster Munitions in Vientiane, Lao PDR in November 2010. It participated in intersessional meetings of the convention held in Geneva in June 2011, but did not make any statements.

The Dominican Republic actively participated in the Oslo Process and supported a strong convention during the Dublin negotiations in May 2008. The Dominican Republic signed the convention in November 2009, less than a year after it was opened for signature, and was the 102^nd signatory to the convention.[5]

The Dominican Republic is party to the Mine Ban Treaty. It is also party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW), but has not ratified Protocol V on explosive remnants of war.

Use, transfer, production, and stockpiling

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