Indonesia

Cluster Munition Ban Policy

Last updated: 18 July 2016

Summary: Signatory Indonesia’s ratification of the convention does not appear to have progressed after years of stakeholder consultations. Indonesia has participated in meetings of the convention, including the First Review Conference in September 2015. It voted in favor of a UN resolution on the convention in December 2015. Indonesia states that it has never used, produced, or transferred cluster munitions, but it has yet to disclose the types and quantities of its stockpiled cluster munitions.

Policy

The Republic of Indonesia signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 3 December 2008.

In September 2015, a government representative told the CMC that Indonesia is in the process of expediting its ratification of the convention and consolidating internal issues relating to its implementation.[1] Previously, in June 2015, a government representative said the convention was awaiting parliamentary approval.[2] Indonesia conducted extensive internal consultations on its ratification since 2010.[3]

On 7 December 2015, Indonesia voted in favor of a resolution by the UN General Assembly (UNGA) on the Convention on Cluster Munitions, which urges states outside the convention to “join as soon as possible.”[4]

Indonesia actively participated in the Oslo Process that created the Convention on Cluster Munitions and was one of the strongest supporters of a comprehensive ban on the weapon.[5] It hosted a regional conference on the convention in Bali, Indonesia in November 2009.

Indonesia participated in the convention’s First Review Conference in Dubrovnik, Croatia in September 2015, but did not make any statements. It attended the convention’s Meetings of States Parties in 2011–2012 and participated in intersessional meetings in Geneva in 2011–2015 as well as regional workshops on the convention. Indonesia has voted in favor of UNGA resolutions condemning the use of cluster munitions in Syria.[6] It has voted for Human Rights Council resolutions condemning cluster munition attacks in Syria.[7]

Jesuit Refugee Service Indonesia works to encourage Indonesia’s ratification of the Convention on Cluster Munitions.[8]

Indonesia is a State Party to the Mine Ban Treaty. It is not party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons.

Use, production, transfer, and stockpiling

Indonesia has stated that it has never used, produced, or transferred cluster munitions.[9]

Indonesia has acknowledged that it stockpiles cluster munitions, but it has not disclosed details on the quantities or types stockpiled. According to Jane’s Information Group, Indonesia possesses Rockeye cluster bombs.[10] In 2010, a Ministry of Foreign Affairs representative stated that Indonesia was conducting an inventory of its stockpile of cluster munitions.[11] Indonesia has emphasized the importance of allowing independent observers, including civil society, to witness stockpile destruction.[12]



[1] CMC campaign meeting with Amb. Agus Sardjana, Dubrovnik, 9 September 2015. Notes by the CMC.

[2] Monitor interview with Lynda K. Wardhani, Counsellor, Permanent Mission of the Republic of Indonesia to the UN, Geneva, 24 June 2015.

[3] The ban convention is being considered by the Indonesian armed forces, Ministry of Defense, Ministry of Law and Human Rights Affairs, and by members of parliament. Statement by Amb. Dimas Samodrarum, Embassy of Indonesia to Lebanon, Convention on Cluster Munitions Second Meeting of States Parties, Beirut, 13 September 2011; interview with Roy Soemirat, Head of Section, Directorate of International Security and Disarmament, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Jakarta, 5 April 2011; and email from Luna Amanda Fahmi, Directorate of International Security and Disarmament, Department of Foreign Affairs, 18 June 2010.

[4]Implementation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions,” UNGA Resolution 70/54, 7 December 2015.

[5] For more details on Indonesia’s 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. 91–92.

[6]Situation of human rights in the Syrian Arab Republic,” UNGA Resolution 69/189, 18 December 2014.

[8] Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) Indonesia web post, “Ban Landmines and Peace,” 5 April 2014.

[9] Statement of Indonesia, Lima Conference on Cluster Munitions, 24 May 2007. Notes by Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF).

[10] Robert Hewson, ed., Jane’s Air-Launched Weapons, Issue 44 (Surrey, UK, Jane’s Information Group Limited, 2004), p. 840.

[11] Email from Luna Amanda Fahmi, Department of Foreign Affairs, 18 June 2010.

[12] Statement of Indonesia, Convention on Cluster Munitions First Meeting of States Parties, Vientiane, 11 November 2010. Notes by the CMC.