Summary: State Party Paraguay ratified the convention on 12 March 2015. It participated in the convention’s First Review Conference in September 2015 and voted in favor of a UN resolution on the convention in December 2015. Paraguay provided an initial transparency report for the convention in May 2016, confirming it has never used, produced, transferred, or stockpiled cluster munitions.

Policy

The Republic of Paraguay signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 3 December 2008 and ratified on 12 March 2015. The convention entered into force for Paraguay on 1 September 2015.

It is not clear if Paraguay intends to enact legislation or other measures to enforce implementation of the convention’s provisions. Paraguay has listed its ratification legislation—Law 5.373 of 17 December 2014—under national implementation measures.[1] It has also reported legislation on arms imports.[2]

Paraguay submitted its initial Article 7 transparency measures report for the Convention on Cluster Munitions in May 2016.[3]

Paraguay participated in the Oslo Process that developed the convention, including the formal negotiations in Dublin in May 2008, where it aligned itself with many other Latin American states in pushing for the strongest convention possible.[4]

Paraguay participated as a State Party in the convention’s First Review Conference in Dubrovnik, Croatia in September 2015. In a statement during the high-level segment of meeting it announced its ratification and acknowledged the partnership between states, international organizations, and non-governmental organizations working to end the scourge of cluster munitions.[5]

Paraguay participated in the convention’s Meetings of States Parties in 2010, 2011, and 2014. It has also attended regional meetings on cluster munitions, most recently in Santiago, Chile in December 2013.

Paraguay voted in favor of a UN General Assembly (UNGA) resolution on the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 7 December 2015, which urges states outside the convention to “join as soon as possible.”[6]

Paraguay has voted in favor of UNGA resolutions condemning the use of cluster munitions in Syria, most recently in December 2015.[7] It has voted for Human Rights Council resolutions condemning the cluster munition attacks in Syria.[8]

Paraguay has not elaborated its views on certain important issues related to interpretation and implementation of the convention, including the prohibition on transit, the prohibition on assistance during joint military operations with states not party that may use cluster munitions, the prohibition on foreign stockpiling of cluster munitions, and the prohibition on investment in cluster munition production.

Paraguay is a State Party to the Mine Ban Treaty. Paraguay is also party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons.

Use, production, transfer, and stockpiling

Paraguay has stated that it does not use, produce, transfer, or stockpile cluster munitions.[9] Paraguay’s Article 7 report did not report stockpiling any cluster munitions, including for research and training, or any production facilities.[10] It states that Paraguay has not imported cluster munitions.[11]