Summary: Non-signatory Singapore has expressed support for the convention’s humanitarian objectives, but has not taken any steps towards accession. However, it voted in favor of a UN resolution on the convention in December 2015, which calls on states outside the convention to “join as soon as possible.” Singapore has participated as an observer in the convention’s meetings, including the First Review Conference in September 2015.

Singapore is not known to have used cluster munitions. In November 2015, Singapore’s only cluster munition producer, Singapore Technologies Engineering, announced that it has ceased production of the weapons. Singapore has not exported cluster munitions since it imposed a moratorium on exports in November 2008. Singapore possesses a stockpile of cluster munitions.

Policy

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

Singapore officials rarely comment on the government’s position on acceding to the convention. However, it elaborated its views in 2015, when it voted for a UN General Assembly (UNGA) resolution on the Convention on Cluster Munitions, which calls on states outside the convention to “join as soon as possible.”[1] The non-binding resolution was subsequently adopted by 140 countries, including many non-signatories.

According to a UN summary of the statements, Singapore said it voted for the resolution and for a similar one the Mine Ban Treaty because it supports “all initiatives against the indiscriminate use of anti-personnel landmines and cluster munitions, especially when they are directed at innocent and defenceless civilians.”[2] The representative said that Singapore supports “international efforts to resolve the humanitarian concerns” with these weapons and committed to “work with members of the international community towards finding a durable and truly global solution.”

Singapore said it does not view accession to the Convention on Cluster and/or Mine Ban Treaty as part of that solution because:

Singapore firmly believes that the legitimate security concerns and the right to self-defence of any State cannot be disregarded. A blanket ban on all types of anti-personnel landmines and cluster munitions may therefore be counter-productive.[3]

Singapore also noted its indefinite moratorium on the export of cluster munitions adopted in November 2008 and its participation as an observer in the work of the convention.

This was Singapore’s first comment on the convention since a May 2010 letter to the Monitor that said: “Singapore believes that humanitarian concerns pertaining to anti-personnel mines and cluster munitions should be balanced against the legitimate right of States to use such munitions judiciously for self-defence…We will continue to support international efforts to resolve the humanitarian concerns over anti-personnel mines and cluster munitions, and to work with members of the international community towards a durable and truly global solution.”[4]

Singapore did not participate in any of the preparatory meetings of the Oslo Process but attended the Dublin negotiations of the Convention on Cluster Munitions as an observer in May 2008.[5] Singapore’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed concern in 2009 at the way the convention was “negotiated outside of the United Nations framework.”[6]

Singapore participated as an observer in the convention’s First Review Conference in Dubrovnik, Croatia in September 2015. It has attended every Meeting of States Parties of the convention as well as intersessional meetings in Geneva in 2011. Singapore did not make any statements at these meetings.

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

Use, production, transfer, and stockpiling

Singapore is not known to have used cluster munitions, but it produced and stockpiles the weapons.

An indefinite moratorium on the export of cluster munitions has been in effect since November 2008, when Singapore announced it would not be signing the Convention on Cluster Munitions.[7] In September 2015, a representative of Singapore confirmed to the Cluster Munition Coalition (CMC) that Singapore’s indefinite moratorium on the export of cluster munitions has not changed and still remains in effect.[8]

Prior to the 2008 export moratorium, cluster munitions were publicly advertised for sale by companies in Singapore, but it is not known if exports actually occurred.

In November 2015, Singapore Technologies Engineering announced that it has ceased production of cluster munitions. It published the decision on its website in a section entitled “Sustainability Governance” that states: “As a responsible military technology manufacturer we do not design, produce and sell anti-personnel mines and cluster munitions and any related key components.”[9]

In a letter to PAX, which leads the explosive investments disinvestment campaign for the CMC, the company’s president, Tan Pheng Hock, stated: “we often get asked by the investment community [about] our stand on cluster munitions,” and continued, “ST Engineering is now no longer in the business of designing, producing and selling of anti-personnel mines and cluster munitions or any related key components.”[10]

According to Jane’s Information Group, a subsidiary of Singapore Technologies Engineering, produced 155mm dual-purpose improved conventional munition (DPICM) artillery projectiles, each containing 64 submunitions equipped with electro-mechanical self-destruct fuzes.[11] The company also produced a 120mm mortar bomb that delivers 25 DPICM submunitions.[12]

Prior to the 2015 announcement, the company last communicated with the Monitor in May 2010, when it stated that it “does not produce cluster munitions for export, nor are we a sub-contractor to anyone who does.”[13]

Singapore has not disclosed information on the types or quantities on its stockpile of cluster munitions, which likely contains the 155mm projectiles and 120mm mortar bombs, as well as 350 CBU-71 air-delivered cluster bombs that Singapore received from the US at some point between 1970 and 1995.[14]