Commitment to the Convention on Cluster Munitions

Policy

The Republic of Mali signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 3 December 2008 and ratified on 30 June 2010. The convention entered into force for Mali on 1 December 2010.

In May 2012, a government official informed a regional conference on cluster munitions that Mali has begun to incorporate the ban convention into domestic law.[1] Previously, in June 2011, Mali said that it had started the process of integrating the convention into national law.[2]

As of 1 June 2012, Mali had yet to submit its initial Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 7 transparency measures report, originally due by 30 May 2011.

Mali participated actively in the Oslo Process that created the convention and advocated for a total ban on cluster munitions without exception and with immediate effect.[3] Mali continued to demonstrate strong interest in the convention in 2011 and the first half of 2012. At the Second Meeting of States Parties in Beirut, Lebanon in September 2011 Mali reaffirmed its commitment to promote universalization of the convention and called for the use of cluster munitions to be made a war crime and a crime against humanity.[4]

Mali attended the Accra Regional Conference on the Universalisation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions in Ghana in May 2012, where it made a statement and endorsed the Accra Universalization Action Plan.

Mali did not attend the intersessional meetings of the convention in Geneva in April 2012.

Mali has not made known its views on certain important issues regarding the interpretation and implementation of the convention, such as the prohibition on foreign stockpiling or transit of cluster munitions, the prohibition on investment in cluster munition production, or the retention of cluster munitions for research or training purposes. On the issue of the prohibition on assistance with acts prohibited under the convention during joint military operations with states not party (interoperability), during the negotiations Mali argued against the inclusion of provisions on interoperability, cautioning that they must not undermine the very purpose of the convention.[5]

Mali is a party to the Mine Ban Treaty.

Convention on Conventional Weapons

Mali is a party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) and it actively engaged in the CCW’s Fourth Review Conference in November 2011, expressing strong concern at the draft protocol on cluster munitions under negotiation.[6]

During the conference, Mali criticized the “weak” draft CCW protocol as “a step backwards” and encouraged all states to join the Convention on Cluster Munitions as quickly as possible.[7] Mali was one of 50 countries that endorsed a joint statement on the final day of the Review Conference stating that there was no consensus for adopting a proposed CCW protocol that would have permitted continued use of cluster munitions.[8]

The Review Conference ended without reaching agreement on the draft protocol, thus concluding the CCW’s work on cluster munitions.

Use, production, transfer, and stockpiling

In November 2010, a government representative said, “We have no cluster munitions in Mali.”[9] Mali is not known to have used, produced, transferred, or stockpiled cluster munitions.[10]