Belarus
Cluster Munition Ban Policy
The Republic of Belarus has not acceded to the Convention on Cluster Munitions. Belarus last commented on the Convention on Cluster Munitions in November 2010, when a government representative described it as “too strict” and not applicable for Belarus as it may threaten its security.[1] In 2008, Belarus said that it “shares the humanitarian concerns” caused by the use of cluster munitions but believes that new agreements should be “developed in the course of a step-by-step process and open discussion.”[2]
Belarus has long stated that military and humanitarian concerns relating to cluster munitions should be addressed through the framework of the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW), to which it is party. It is not known if Belarus will reevaluate its position on joining the ban convention after the November 2011 failure of the CCW’s Fourth Review Conference to agree on the draft protocol on cluster munitions.
Belarus did not participate in the Oslo Process that created the Convention on Cluster Munitions and has not attended any meetings of the convention in the period since 2008, not even as an observer.[3]
On 31 July 2012, the Support Center for Associations and Foundations (SCAF), a local NGO and representative of the CMC in Belarus, organized a “Join the Team” concert as well as basketball and chess events for wheelchair users to mark the second anniversary of the Convention on Cluster Munitions’ entry into force.[4]
Belarus is a State Party to the Mine Ban Treaty but missed its 1 March 2008 treaty-mandated deadline for the destruction of all stockpiled antipersonnel mines (see Belarus country profile on mine ban policy).
Use, production, transfer, and stockpiling
In 2010, Belarus said, “Our country is not a producer of cluster munitions.”[5] It is not known to have used or exported cluster munitions.
Belarus inherited a stockpile of cluster munitions from the Soviet Union. In 2010, Belarus said that it doesn’t have a “major” stockpile of cluster munitions, but it has not provided any information on the types or quantities.[6]
According to Jane’s Information Group, RBK-500 cluster bombs are in service with the country’s air force.[7] Belarus also possesses Grad 122mm, Uragan 220mm, and Smerch 300mm surface-to-surface rockets, but it is not known if these include versions with submunition payloads.[8]
According to a CMC member in Belarus, cluster munitions with expired shelf-life are regularly destroyed by the Ministry of Defense.[9]
[1] Meeting with Ivan Grinevich, Counsellor, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Belarus, in Geneva, 30 November 2010. Notes by the CMC.
[2] Statement of Belarus, UN General Assembly, First Committee Disarmament and International Security, New York, 30 October 2008. Translation provided by email from Tatiana Fedorovich, Permanent Mission of Belarus to the UN in New York, 26 November 2008.
[3] For details on Belarus’s cluster munition policy and practice up to early 2009, see Human Rights Watch and Landmine Action, Banning Cluster Munitions: Government Policy and Practice (Ottawa: Mines Action Canada, May 2009), pp. 190–191.
[4] CMC report, “1st August CMC Global Day of Action: Campaign Actions,” 2012.
[5] Statement of Belarus, Convention on Conventional Weapons Group of Governmental Experts on Cluster Munitions, Geneva, 1 September 2010. Notes by Action on Armed Violence.
[6] Ibid.
[7] Robert Hewson, ed., Jane’s Air-Launched Weapons, Issue 44 (Surrey, UK: Jane’s Information Group Limited, 2004), p. 836.
[8] International Institute for Strategic Studies, The Military Balance 2011 (London: Routledge, 2011), p. 89; and Colin King, ed., Jane’s Explosive Ordnance Disposal 2007–2008, CD-edition, 15 January 2008, (Surrey, UK: Jane’s Information Group Limited, 2008).
[9] Interview with Dr. Iouri Zagoumennov, SCAF, Minsk, 1 April 2010.