Central African Republic
Cluster Munition Ban Policy
Five-Year Review: Signatory the Central African Republic has stated since 2013 that internal armed conflict has prevented it from ratifying the convention. However, it continues to engage in the work of the convention, participating in every Meeting of States Parties. The Central African Republic states that it has never used, produced, or exported cluster munitions and that it has destroyed stocks of cluster munitions.
Policy
The Central African Republic signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 3 December 2008.
Government representatives have informed the CMC that internal armed conflict between the government and rebel forces has prevented ratification of the convention from proceeding.[1] Prior to the outbreak of conflict in 2013, government officials indicated that the ratification was on track.[2]
The Central African Republic participated in a regional meeting (Kampala, Uganda in September 2008) of the diplomatic Oslo Process that created the convention.[3]
The Central African Republic has participated in every Meeting of States Parties of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, including the Fifth Meeting of States Parties in San Jose, Costa Rica in September 2014. It has not attended the convention’s intersessional meetings held in Geneva. The Central African Republic has participated in regional workshops on the convention, most recently in Lome, Togo in May 2013.
The Central African Republic has voted in favor of UN General Assembly (UNGA) resolutions condemning the use of cluster munitions in Syria, including Resolution 69/189 on 18 December 2014, which expressed “outrage” at the continued use.[4]
The Central African Republic is party to the Mine Ban Treaty. It is not party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons.
Use, production, transfer, and stockpiling
The Central African Republic has stated that it has never used, produced, or transferred cluster munitions and that it is not affected by cluster munition remnants.[5]
In September 2011, the Central African Republic informed States Parties that it had destroyed a considerable stockpile of cluster munitions.[6] In May 2012, a government representative clarified that the cluster munitions were recovered from a non-state armed group operating within the country.[7]
[1] CMC meeting with Désiré Laurent Malibangar, Coordinator, Ministry of Defense, Lomé, 22 May 2013. The Central African Republic delegation to the Convention on Cluster Munitions Fourth Meeting of States Parties in September 2013 also informed the CMC that ratification had been delayed by conflict.
[2] Statement of the Central African Republic, Accra Regional Conference on the Universalization of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, Accra, 28 May 2012; and statement of the Central African Republic, Convention on Cluster Munitions Second Meeting of States Parties, Beirut, 14 September 2011.
[3] For details on the Central African Republic’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), p. 55.
[4] “Situation of human rights in the Syrian Arab Republic,” UNGA Resolution A/RES/69/189, 18 December 2014. The Central African Republic voted in favor of a similar resolution on 15 May 2013.
[5] Statement by Antoine Gambi, Ministry of Defense, Convention on Cluster Munitions Signing Conference, Oslo, 4 December 2008. Notes by Landmine Action.
[6] Statement of the Central African Republic, Convention on Cluster Munitions Second Meeting of States Parties, Beirut, 14 September 2011.
[7] CMC meeting with Désiré Laurent Malibangar, Chargé de Mission, Ministry of Defense of the Central African Republic, Accra, 29 May 2012.