Benin
Cluster Munition Ban Policy
Summary: Signatory Benin said in June 2015 that the government had ratified the convention and the parliament would consider the ratification next. Benin has attended several of the convention’s Meetings of States Parties. Benin states that it has never used, produced, transferred, or stockpiled cluster munitions.
Policy
The Republic of Benin signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 3 December 2008.
The current status of Benin’s ratification of the convention is not known. Previously, in June 2015, an official informed the CMC that the government had approved ratification of the convention and would soon introduce the necessary legislation to parliament for consideration and approval.[1] A new National Assembly was formed in May 2015, following parliamentary elections.[2]
Once the ratification is completed, the provisions of the Convention on Cluster Munitions may be enforced through an amendment to existing national implementation legislation for the Mine Ban Treaty.[3]
Benin participated in the Oslo Process that created the Convention on Cluster Munitions and was a strong advocate for a comprehensive ban.[4]
Benin was invited to, but did not attend the convention’s First Review Conference in Dubrovnik, Croatia in September 2015. It has participated in all of the convention’s Meetings of States Parties except one (2011) and attended intersessional meetings of the convention in Geneva in 2011-2014. Benin has also participated in regional workshops on the convention.
On 7 December 2015, Benin voted in favor of the first UN General Assembly (UNGA) resolution on the Convention on Cluster Munitions, which urges states outside the convention to “join as soon as possible.”[5] Benin has also voted in favor of recent UNGA resolutions condemning the use of cluster munitions in Syria, most recently in December 2015.[6]
Benin is a State Party to the Mine Ban Treaty. It is also party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons.
Use, production, transfer, and stockpiling
Benin has stated several times that it has never used, produced, or stockpiled cluster munitions, is not a transit country, and has no intention to acquire cluster munitions.[7]
[1] While there has been no update in the past year, Benin regularly reported on its ratification process since 2010. In September 2013, it informed States Parties that its ratification was nearing completion and in May 2013 said measures had been taken to initiate ratification. Statement of Benin, Convention on Cluster Munitions Fourth Meeting of States Parties, Lusaka, 10 September 2013. Unofficial translation by the Monitor; CMC meeting with Gilbert Lasitode, Director, West African Humanitarian Mine Action Training Center (Centre de Perfectionnement aux Actions Post-conflictuelles de Déminage et de Dépollution, CPADD) and with Simplice Gnanguesy, Director of Operations and Peacekeeping, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Convention on Cluster Munitions Fourth Meeting of States Parties, Lusaka, 11 September 2013; and statement of Benin, Lomé Regional Seminar on the Universalization of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, Lomé, Togo, 22 May 2013.
[2] Email from Kokou Akvalon, Coordinator, CMC Togo, 4 July 2015.
[3] CMC meeting with Evelyne Agonhessou, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Geneva, 19 April 2012.
[4] For details on Benin’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. 42–43.
[5] “Implementation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions,” UNGA Resolution 70/54, 7 December 2015.
[6] “Situation of human rights in the Syrian Arab Republic,” UNGA Resolution 70/234, 23 December 2015. Benin voted in favor of similar resolutions on 15 May and 18 December 2013 and in 2014.
[7] Statement of Benin, Lomé Regional Seminar on the Universalization of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, Lomé, Togo, 22 May 2013. Notes by Action on Armed Violence (AOAV); and statement of Benin, Convention on Cluster Munitions Third Meeting of States Parties, Oslo, 12 September 2012.