Summary: Non-signatory Kazakhstan acknowledges the humanitarian rationale for the convention, but says it is not ready to accede. Kazakhstan voted in support of the first UN General Assembly resolution on the convention in December 2015 and has participated in several meetings of the convention. Kazakhstan has stated that it has not produced cluster munitions and it is not known to have used or exported them, but inherited a stockpile from the Soviet Union.

Policy

The Republic of Kazakhstan has not acceded to the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

On 7 December 2015, Kazakhstan voted in favor of the first UN General Assembly (UNGA) resolution on the convention, which urges states outside the convention “join as soon as possible.”[1] Kazakhstan did not explain its reasons for supporting the non-binding resolution that 140 countries voted for, including many non-signatories.

Kazakhstan last commented on its position on the convention in an April 2013 letter to the Monitor that repeated its statement articulated in previous letters sent in 2010, 2011, and 2012: “Kazakhstan highly values the humanitarian focus of the CCM [Convention on Cluster Munitions], but at this stage does not consider its possible accession.”[2] It again affirmed that, “cluster munitions as weapons are not prohibited under international humanitarian law” and said each country should “determine on the feasibility and timing of accession according to the interests of national security and their own economic potential.”[3]

Kazakhstan participated in meetings of the Oslo Process that created the convention, including the negotiations in Dublin in May 2008 as an observer, but made no statements.[4]

Kazakhstan has participated in several meetings of the convention, most recently the First Review Conference in Dubrovnik, Croatia in September 2015, which it attended as an observer. Kazakhstan also participated in the convention’s intersessional meetings in Geneva in 2012 and 2013.

Kazakhstan abstained voting on UNGA Resolution 70/234, which “deplores and condemns” the continued use of cluster munitions in Syria, on 23 December 2015.[5]

Kazakhstan is not party to the Mine Ban Treaty. It is party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons.

Use, production, transfer, and stockpiling

Kazakhstan is not known to have used or exported cluster munitions. It has repeatedly stated that it does not “produce and does not intend to produce and acquire cluster munitions in the medium term.”[6] Kazakhstan has also stated that it “cannot be a source of proliferation of cluster munitions” because it has “an effective system of export control of arms.”[7]

Kazakhstan inherited a stockpile of cluster munitions from the Soviet Union, but has not made a public declaration regarding the types and quantities of the cluster munitions stockpiled. According to Jane’s Information Group, RBK-500 series cluster bombs are in service with the country’s air force.[8] Kazakhstan also possesses Grad 122mm and Uragan 220mm surface-to-surface rockets, but it is not known if these include versions with submunition payloads.[9]

Kazakhstan ordered a total of 50 Extra surface-to-surface missiles for its Lynx-type launchers from Israel in 2007, and received them in 2008–2009.[10] According to the product information sheet available from its manufacturer, the Extra missile can have either a unitary or submunition warhead.[11] It is not known which variant Kazakhstan acquired.