Summary: State Party Slovakia acceded to the convention on 24 July 2015 after adopting and implementing an action plan that guided the process to its successful conclusion. Slovakia has participated in several 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.

Slovakia is not known to have ever used cluster munitions, but it produced, exported, and imported them in the past. Slovakia has reported a total stockpile of 1,235 cluster munitions and 299,187 submunitions, which it began destroying in the second half of 2015.

Policy

The Slovak Republic acceded to the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 24 July 2015 and became a State Party on 1 January 2016.

Slovakia’s parliament—the National Council—adopted a resolution approving accession of the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 26 June 2015. Slovakia has reported existing arms trafficking legislation and its Penal Code under national implementation measures.[1] It has not indicated if it intends to undertake specific legislation to enforce its implementation of the convention.

Slovakia submitted its initial Article 7 transparency measures report for the convention on 28 June 2016.

Slovakia actively participated in the Oslo Process that led to the creation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions and joined the consensus adoption of the convention in Dublin in May 2008. However, it participated only as an observer at the convention’s Signing Conference in Oslo in December 2008.[2]

Slovakia acceded to the convention after spending seven years implementing a November 2008 decree that established a process to develop an action plan for its accession.[3]

Slovakia attended the First Review Conference in Dubrovnik, Croatia in September 2015 as a State Party. Before acceding, it participated as an observer in the convention’s annual Meetings of States Parties in 2011 and 2012, as well as intersessional meetings in Geneva in 2015.

In an address to the high-level segment of the convention’s First Review Conference, State Secretary and Deputy Minister of Defense Miloš Koterec said that Slovakia participated in the Oslo Process because of its “strong conviction that all cluster munitions causing unacceptable harm to civilians must be banned.”[4] He observed that “the road from Dublin to Dubrovnik was not easy for Slovakia” as “a producer and exporter of cluster munitions.” According to Koterec, “we had to address the issue and lot of political will and commitment was needed to overcome the hurdles on this road,” but “after reaching the political decision on the accession, Slovakia immediately started to provisionally apply the most important obligations” of the convention.

Koterec described universalization of the convention “to the maximum extent possible” as essential” and said “Slovakia as a new State Party calls upon all states that have not yet done so to ratify or accede to the Convention.” He expressed Slovakia’s determination to “strenuously work with other States Parties, UN, ICRC and NGO family on the promotion of this goal and towards the full implementation of the Convention.”

On 7 December 2015, Slovakia voted in favor of the first UN General Assembly (UNGA) resolution on the Convention on Cluster Munitions, which urges states outside the convention to “join as soon as possible.”[5]

In October 2015, Slovakia said, “We are deeply concerned about the reported use of cluster munitions affecting civilian populations in different parts of the world.” It called on all actors to refrain from such use.[6] Slovakia has voted in favor of UNGA resolutions condemning the use of cluster munitions in Syria, most recently in December 2015.[7]

Slovakia has not elaborated its views on certain important issues related to the convention’s interpretation and implementation, such as the prohibitions on transit, assistance during joint military operations with states not party that may use cluster munitions, foreign stockpiling of cluster munitions, investment in production of cluster munitions, and on the retention of cluster munitions for training and development purposes.

Slovakia is a State Party to the Mine Ban Treaty. It is also a party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW).

Use

Prior to its accession to the convention, Slovakia stated several times that it has never used cluster munitions.[8]

Production and transfer

Slovakia produced, exported, and imported cluster munitions in the past. In May 2010, it committed to no longer acquire cluster munitions. In January 2014, Slovakia said it was no longer producing cluster munitions and committed to no further production.[9] Slovakia reported in June 2016 that the cluster munitions production line by the ZVS Holding Company of Dubncia and Vahom was converted in 2010 to produce unitary bombs.[10] According to Slovakia’s action plan for accession to the convention, ZVS Holding was the country’s only manufacturer of cluster munitions on behalf of Konštrukta Defence.[11] It manufactured two types of ground-fired cluster munitions.[12] ZVS Holding produced 8,680 122mm AGAT rockets for Turkey and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in 1998–2010, and 602 cluster munitions for Slovakia’s Ministry of Defence in 1998–2001.[13]

Slovakia’s last known export of cluster munitions was in February 2010.

Slovakia imported M26 rockets from Germany, most recently in 2005.[14]

Stockpiling and destruction

Slovakia stockpiled 1,235 cluster munitions and 299,187 submunitions prior to the commencement of destruction efforts, as shown in the following table. All cluster munitions have been withdrawn from operational stocks.

Cluster munitions originally stockpiled by Slovakia[15]

The stockpile announced in the transparency report is an increase on the 899 cluster munitions that it initially indicated it stockpiled in January 2014.[16]

Stockpile destruction

Under Article 3 of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, Slovakia is required to destroy all stockpiled cluster munitions under its jurisdiction or control as soon as possible, but not later than 1 January 2024.

Slovakia has committed to destroy the stockpile and “fulfill all the requirements of the Convention within the given timeframe.”[17]

Slovakia destroyed 213 cluster munitions and 14,692 submunitions in the second half of 2015 and first half of 2016, as detailed in the following table. This represents 17% of its total declared stocks of cluster munitions.

Cluster munition stocks destroyed by Slovakia (as of June 2016)[18]

Note: EIF = entry into force

Slovakia destroyed 163 cluster munitions and 11,666 submunitions prior to the convention’s entry into force for the country on 1 January 2016. It destroyed another 50 cluster munitions and 3,026 submunitions since then, all in June 2016.

Slovakia destroyed six cluster munitions and 436 submunitions of various types at the Zahorie Military Technical and Testing Institute on 31 December 2013 during testing of render safe procedures to destroy the stocks. In the second half 2015, Slovakia commenced destruction of the stockpile, destroying 157 cluster munitions and 11,605 submunitions by open detonation at the Novarky EOD training area and Kuchyna firing range.

According to the 2014 action plan, the Ministry of Defense is responsible for destroying the stockpiled cluster munitions by 2023 at an estimated cost of €5.5 million (US$6.2 million).[19]

Retention

Slovakia has retained five M26 rockets and 3,220 M77 DPICM submunitions for the development of stockpile destruction techniques at Zahorie Military Technical and Testing Institute.

Slovakia has destroyed one M26 rocket in the course of developing “render safe procedures and testing of the environmental impact of destruction,” and report that the five remaining M26 rockets will be consumed in “the second half of 2016.”[20]

In September 2015, Slovakia informed States Parties that it, “does not intend to keep any submunitions and we plan to destroy all our stockpiles.”[21]