Commitment to the Convention on Cluster Munitions

Policy

The Kingdom of Cambodia has not acceded to the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

In September 2012, a government representative repeated Cambodia’s April 2012 statement that “Cambodia is still assessing the impact of signing the Convention on Cluster Munitions on its defense capability and the ability to comply with all obligations.”[1] Cambodia first indicated it was assessing the impact of joining in September 2011, at the time stating, “We sincerely hope that the ultimate signing is just…a matter of time.”[2]

Cambodia has said that the question of accession to the convention is “in the hands of our top leadership.”[3] In November 2011, Prime Minister Hun Sen met with a group of survivors of landmines, cluster munitions, and other unexploded ordnance who requested that Cambodia accede to the Convention on Cluster Munitions. The Prime Minister responded that he is continuing to receive advice from government authorities on the matter.

Cambodia was an early, prominent, and influential supporter of the Oslo Process that produced the Convention on Cluster Munitions. It hosted the first regional forum on cluster munitions in Southeast Asia, in Phnom Penh in March 2007. Cambodia advocated strongly for the most comprehensive and immediate ban possible and joined in the consensus adoption of the convention at the conclusion of the Dublin negotiations in May 2008. Yet, despite Cambodia’s extensive and positive leadership role, it attended the Convention on Cluster Munitions Signing Conference in Oslo on 3 December 2008 only as an observer and did not sign, stating that it needed more time to study the security implications of joining.[4]

Throughout 2009 and 2010, Cambodia cited several reasons, mostly security-related, for not joining the Convention on Cluster Munitions.[5] Cambodia’s position on accession to the convention began to show signs of change after Thailand fired cluster munitions into Cambodian territory on the border near Preah Vihear temple in February 2011, killing two men and injuring seven.[6] The CMC has urged both Thailand and Cambodia to immediately commit to no future use of cluster munitions and accede to the Convention on Cluster Munitions.[7]

Despite not joining, Cambodia has continued to actively engage in the work of the Convention on Cluster Munitions. It has attended every meeting of States Parties of the convention as an observer, including the Third Meeting of States Parties in Oslo, Norway in September 2012. Cambodia has participated in every round of intersessional meetings of the convention in Geneva, including in April 2013.

At the intersessional meetings in April 2013, Cambodia was the only state not party to the convention to express concern at Syria’s use of cluster munitions, stating that as a country contaminated by cluster munition remnants, Cambodia “expresses deep regret at the loss of life” from Syria’s cluster munition use.[8]

After the death of Cambodia’s King Norodom Sihanouk, landmine survivors issued a statement in in January 2013, acknowledging his “strong support” for the Convention on Cluster Munitions and urging the government to join the convention “as a mark of respect to the late King and a sign of Cambodia’s commitment to peace in the region.”[9]

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

Use, production, transfer, and stockpiling

Cambodia is not known to have used, produced, or exported cluster munitions. In June 2011, it stated, “Despite being confronted and threatened by forces, so far we have refrained from employing cluster munitions in our response.”[10]

The size and precise content of Cambodia’s stockpile of cluster munitions is not known. In December 2008, a Ministry of Defense official said that Cambodia has “some missile launchers that use cluster munitions that weigh more than 20 kg” and said there were also stockpiles of cluster munitions weighing 250kg left over from the 1980s that Cambodia intends to destroy.[11] Weapons with submunitions that weigh more than 20kg each are not defined as cluster munitions by the Convention on Cluster Munitions and are not prohibited.[12]

According to standard international reference publications, Cambodia also possesses BM-21 Grad 122mm surface-to-surface rocket launchers, but it is not known if the ammunition for these weapons includes versions with submunition payloads.[13] Cambodian officials have asked representatives from states that have joined the Convention on Cluster Munitions, as well as NGOs, if BM-21 rocket launchers are banned under the convention. BM-21 multiple barrel rocket launchers are capable of firing rockets with a variety of warheads, one of which is a cargo warhead containing explosive submunitions. The CMC has informed Cambodia that the rocket delivery system itself is not prohibited by the convention, and the convention would allow use of the BM-21 with unitary munitions; however, under the terms of the convention, a BM-21 rocket launcher could not be used to deliver any rockets containing explosive submunitions.[14]