Five-Year Review: Slovakia acceded to the convention on 24 July 2015, after developing, adopting, and implementing an action plan that guided the process to its successful conclusion. It will become a State Party to the convention on 1 January 2016. Slovakia is not known to have ever used cluster munitions, but it produced, exported, and imported them in the past. Slovakia has reported a stockpile of 899 cluster munitions. On 29 June 2015, it announced the destruction of 75 of those stockpiled cluster munitions.

Policy

The Slovak Republic acceded to the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 24 July 2015 and will become a State Party on 1 January 2016.

Slovakia acceded to the convention after its parliament approved an accession proposal (see below). It is unclear if Slovakia intends to enact specific implementation legislation for the convention.

Slovakia’s initial Article 7 transparency report for the convention is due by 28 June 2016. Slovakia actively participated throughout the Oslo Process that led to the creation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, but repeatedly expressed its opposition to a categorical ban on cluster munitions. Slovakia joined the consensus adoption of the convention in Dublin in May 2008, but participated only as an observer at the convention’s Signing Conference in Oslo in December 2008.

After reviewing the convention, the government decided on 6 November 2008 that Slovakia would not to sign it in Oslo the following month.[1] However, it also adopted a decree committing to develop an action plan for Slovakia’s accession to the convention and establishing an inter-departmental process to prepare the plan.[2] Over the next six years, Slovakia monitored the convention’s development and regularly stated that it was in the process of drafting the action plan.[3]

On 15 January 2014, the government adopted the action plan to begin the process of accession with the aim of depositing the instrument by 30 June 2015. The Deputy Prime Minister shared the action plan with the CMC in April 2014, describing its approval as “a serious political commitment and significant step towards the accession to the Convention on Cluster Munitions in a realistic timeframe.”[4] The plan included an explanatory note that found “from the foreign policy point of view, it is undoubtedly beneficial and appropriate to accede to the convention.” The note listed factors contributing to Slovakia’s decision to join, including the convention’s “strong normative impact” and pressure to join from the international community as well as NGOs, particularly Amnesty International Slovakia.

On 15 April 2015, the government of Slovakia approved a resolution drafted by the Minister of Defense that proposed Slovakia’s accession to the Convention on Cluster Munitions.[5] The Prime Minister then submitted the accession proposal to parliament (the National Council) on 27 April 2015 for consideration and approval.[6] It was referred to a parliamentary committee on defense and security on 28 April 2015.[7] The committee considered the proposal on 2 June 2015 and approved it unanimously by a vote of nine in favor, none against, and two abstentions.[8] The committee recommended the National Council adopt the draft accession resolution.[9] On 26 June 2015, the National Council debated the accession proposal, during which four Council members spoke in support. One member of parliament described Slovakia’s proposed accession as a “positive and supportive” initiative.[10] The National Council then passed the draft resolution, unanimously by a vote of 128 in favour, none against, and two abstentions.[11]

President Andrej Kiska signed the accession decree on 15 July 2015. His office commented to media that by acceding to the convention, Slovakia “takes on not only the legal obligation, but a moral obligation to alleviate the tragic and inhumane consequences of war and armed conflict, especially for innocent civilians.”[12]

Deputy Permanent Representative of the Permanent Mission of the Slovak Republic to the UN Richard Galbavy deposited the instrument of ratification with the UN in New York on 24 July 2015. Slovakia was the 117th country to sign or accede to the convention and its 93^rd State Party.

In April 2015, the Head of the Disarmament Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Karol Mistrik, informed the Monitor of Slovakia’s imminent accession and confirmed that it would participate in the convention’s high-level First Review Conference in Dubrovnik, Croatia in September 2015. Mistrik highlighted other “positive developments” on cluster munitions, namely the stockpile destruction that has been carried out by the Ministry of Defense[13] (see Stockpiling and destruction section below).

Slovakia has participated as an observer in two Meetings of States Parties of the Convention on Cluster Munitions (in 2011 and 2012), and it attended the convention’s intersessional meetings in Geneva for the first time in June 2015.

Slovakia 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.[14]

Slovakia is a State Party to the Mine Ban Treaty.

Use

Slovakia is not known to have used cluster munitions and prior to its accession to the convention stated several times that it does not and will not use cluster munitions.[15]

Production, transfer, and stockpiling

Slovakia has produced, exported, and imported cluster munitions in the past and has a stockpile.

Slovakia stated in May 2010 that it would no longer acquire cluster munitions, but until the adoption of the action plan in January 2014, it had never made a public statement that it was no longer producing cluster munitions or committing to no further production.[16] In April 2014, the Deputy Prime Minister stated that “Slovakia has already stopped producing cluster munitions.”[17] He also stated that Slovakia’s “export control policy on cluster munitions does not allow for export or transfer of cluster munitions” in accordance with the requirements of the Convention on Cluster Munitions.[18]

The action plan’s explanatory note contains a section on “economic aspects” that lists the Slovakian company ZVS Holding as “the only manufacturer” of cluster munitions and describes ZVS Holding as the “research and development” wing of Konštrukta Defence (previously referred to by the Monitor as “KONŠTRUKTA Defence a.s.”). According to the note, ZVS Holding manufactured two types of cluster munitions:

• A 152mm artillery projectile containing dual-purpose improved conventional munition (DPICM) type submunitions with a “self-destructing” capability.[19]
• A 122mm “AGAT” rocket containing 50 dual-purpose and six incendiary submunitions; both types of submunition can self-destruct.

At some point, ZVS Holding apparently also offered a 98mm K-PT mortar bomb containing self-destructing DPICM-type submunition.[20]

According to the explanatory note, the “final delivery” of cluster munitions to “foreign partners” was in February 2010. It states that ZVS Holding produced 8,680 122mm AGAT rockets for Turkey and the United Arab Emirates from 1998–2010, and 602 cluster munitions for Slovakia’s Ministry of Defence from 1998–2001.[21]

Cluster Munition Monitor previously listed Slovakian company Technopol International as involved in the production of the AGAT 122mm cargo ammunition, but its relationship to ZVS Holding is presently unclear.[22] Technopol held licenses for the export of cluster munitions.[23]

Slovakia imported M26 rockets from Germany, most recently in 2005.[24]

The explanatory note found that Slovakia’s accession to the Convention on Cluster Munitions would likely have some impact on ZVS Holding’s business sector and could directly affect up to 100 production workers, technicians, and administrative staff, and 50 subcontractors.[25] However, it reported the loss of profit or jobs from stopping cluster munition production could be mitigated by redirecting production capacity to the destruction and delaboration of stockpiled cluster munitions.

Stockpiling and destruction

In January 2014, as part of the adoption of its action plan, Slovakia disclosed information on the types and quantities of its stockpile of 899 stockpiled cluster munitions, as detailed in the following table.[26]

Cluster munitions stockpiled by Slovakia (January 2014)[27]

Under Article 3 of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, Slovakia is required to destroy all stockpiled cluster munitions under its jurisdiction and control as soon as possible, but not later than 1 January 2024.

In April 2015, Slovakia affirmed its commitment to destroy the stockpile and “fulfill all the requirements of the Convention within the given timeframe.”[28] In April 2014, the Deputy Prime Minister said Slovakia was “determined to honor our obligation and seek the necessary resources” to destroy the stockpile.[29]

During the 26 June 2015 parliamentary debate on accession to the convention, the Minister of Defense Martin Glvac stated that there are 669 cluster munitions and 10,872 submunitions to be destroyed and announced that the Ministry of Defense had destroyed 74 AGAT munitions and one RBK bomb.[30]

The 2014 action plan lists the Ministry of Defense as responsible for ensuring the destruction of the stockpiled cluster munitions by 2023 at an estimated cost of €5.5 million ($6.2 million USD).[31]

Retention

Slovakia has not indicated if it will retain cluster munitions for research or training purposes.