Summary:Non-signatory Nepal has not commented on its position on accession to the convention. It abstained from voting on a UN resolution on the convention in December 2015. Nepal participated as an observer in a meeting of the convention in 2013. Nepal states that it has never used, produced, transferred, or stockpiled cluster munitions.

Policy

The Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal has not acceded to the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

Nepal has never made a public statement elaborating its position on accession to the convention.[1]

On 7 December 2015, Nepal abstained from the vote on a UN General Assembly (UNGA) resolution on the Convention on Cluster Munitions, which urges states outside the convention to “join as soon as possible.”[2] Nepal did not explain the reasons for its abstention on the non-binding resolution, which 140 states voted for, including many non-signatories.

Nepal participated in two meetings of the Oslo Process that created the convention (Vienna in December 2007 and Wellington in February 2008) but it did not attend the Dublin negotiations in May 2008.

Nepal participated as an observer in the convention’s Fourth Meeting of States Parties in Lusaka, Zambia in September 2013, but did not make any statements. This was Nepal’s first and to date only attendance at a meeting of the convention.

Nepal is not party to the Mine Ban Treaty or the Convention on Conventional Weapons.

On 1 August 2015, the Cluster Munition Coalition’s (CMC) national partner the Nepal Campaign to Ban Landmines (NCBL) held a symposium together with Nepal’s Ministry of Peace and Reconstruction to mark the fifth anniversary of the entry into force of the Convention on Cluster Munition.[3]

Use, production, transfer, and stockpiling

Nepal has stated that it has never used, produced, transferred, or stockpiled cluster munitions.[4]