Summary: State Party Spain was among the first 30 ratifications to trigger the convention’s entry into force on 1 August 2010. It amended existing legislation in July 2015 to incorporate the convention’s provisions into domestic law. Spain has participated in every meeting of the convention and served as co-coordinator for the convention on stockpile destruction in 2012–2014. Spain promotes universalization of the convention and voted in favor of a UN resolution on the convention in December 2015. Spain has elaborated its views on several important issues relating to the interpretation and implementation of the convention.

Spain states that it has never used cluster munitions. In its initial transparency report for the convention provided in 2011, Spain acknowledged it produced and transferred cluster munitions in the past and destroyed a stockpile of 4,762 cluster munitions and 232,647 submunitions in 2009. In 2012, Spain reported additional stocks of 3,574 cluster munitions and 75,045 submunitions that it is working to destroy. Spain is retaining 292 cluster munitions and 6,605 submunitions for training and research purposes, which is less than half the amount it initially said would be retained.

Policy

The Kingdom of Spain signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 3 December 2008 and ratified on 17 June 2009. It was among the first 30 ratifications that triggered entry into force of the convention on 1 August 2010.

Both houses of parliament amended Spain’s 1998 implementing legislation for the Mine Ban Treaty (Law 33/1998) in 2013–2015 to incorporate the provisions of the Convention on Cluster Munitions.[1] The amended legislation took effect on 30 July 2015.[2] Spain also amended its penal code in June 2010 to provide sanctions for violations of the convention’s provisions.[3]

Spain declared a unilateral moratorium on use, production, and transfer of cluster munitions on 11 July 2008, prior to the convention’s entry into force.[4] Spanish armed forces implemented the convention in accordance with Directive No. 71/2008, issued by the Secretary of Defense on 30 July 2008.[5]

Spain submitted its initial Article 7 transparency report for the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 27 January 2011 and has provided annual updated reports ever since, most recently on 28 April 2016.[6]

Spain participated throughout the Oslo Process that created the Convention on Cluster Munitions and its position evolved significantly to embrace a comprehensive ban on all cluster munitions. Following the adoption of the convention in Dublin in May 2008, Spain rapidly began to implement its provisions.[7]

Spain participated in the convention’s First Review Conference in Dubrovnik, Croatia in September 2015. In an address to the high-level segment of the meeting, Spain reaffirmed its commitment to the convention, which it described as “an appropriate legal framework to eliminate heinous arms and also a moral standard.”[8]

Spain has attended every Meeting of States Parties of the convention as well as intersessional meetings in Geneva in 2011–2015.

On 7 December 2015, Spain voted in favor of a UN General Assembly (UNGA) resolution on the Convention on Cluster Munitions, which urged all states not party to the convention to join “as soon as possible.”[9]

Spain regularly highlights the collaboration between civil society, international organizations, and states in working for universalization and implementation of the convention.[10] At the UNGA First Committee on Disarmament and International Security in October 2015, Spain reiterated its call for renewed political will to address this issue.[11]

Spain last expressed its concern at new use of cluster munitions in 2011, when it condemned the use of Spanish-made and -supplied cluster munitions in Libya by government forces of then-leader Muammar Gaddafi.[12] The Monitor is not aware of any public statements by Spain protesting new cluster munition use since 2011. At the intersessional meetings in June 2015, Spain objected to proposed language condemning new cluster munition use contained in draft documents to be issued by the convention’s First Review Conference.[13]

Spain has, however, voted in favor of UNGA resolutions condemning the use of cluster munitions in Syria, most recently in December 2015.[14] As a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council, it also voted in favor of a June 2015 resolution that expressed concern at evidence of cluster munition use in Darfur and called on the government of Sudan to “immediately investigate the use of cluster munitions.”[15]

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

Interpretative issues

Spain’s implementing legislation prohibits the use, development, production, acquisition in any way, stockpile, conservation, transfer, or exportation, directly or indirectly of antipersonnel mines, cluster munitions, explosive bomblets, and weapons of similar effect.[16] It defines development as “any activity consistent with the creation of new cluster munitions or the modification of preexisting cluster munitions.”[17] The amended law specifically prohibits assisting, encouraging, or inducing anyone to participate in any activity prohibited by the convention or the implementation legislation.[18] The amended law includes an explicit prohibition against financing cluster munition production.[19]

The law establishes that Spain’s military cooperation and participation in military operations—by the state, its military personnel, or its nationals—with states not party to the Convention on Cluster Munitions that use cluster munitions is not prohibited.[20] This interoperability language and a prohibition on investment in cluster munition producers were subject to parliamentary debate in both houses.

After it was reviewed by the Chamber of Deputies foreign affairs committee, Spain approved an amendment to the draft amended law’s prohibition on advertising or publicizing cluster munitions by adding the word “financing” in order to prohibit financial investment in activities prohibited by legislation. It was also amended to ensure Spain implements the positive obligations of Article 21(2) of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, which require it to work for universalization of the convention and discourage non-signatories from using cluster munitions.

According to a June 2016 report published by PAX, Spanish financial institution Banco de Sabadell continues to invest in the production of cluster munitions despite national legislation prohibiting such investment.[21]

Use, production, and transfer

Spain has stated that it has never used cluster munitions. However, Spain produced and transferred cluster munitions in the past.

In its initial Article 7 report provided in 2011, Spain listed the company Instalaza SA in Zaragoza as having manufactured two types of 120mm mortar bombs containing submunitions: the ESPIN-21 and MAT-120. In April 2011, The New York Times and Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported the use in Libya by the government forces of Muammar Gaddafi of that MAT-120 mortar bombs manufactured by Instalaza in 2007.[22] In June 2011, Spain condemned the use of cluster munitions in Libya and confirmed that the transfer of MAT-120 cluster munitions from Spain to Libya occurred in 2006 and 2008, prior to the adoption of the convention and Spain’s moratorium.[23]

Spain has reported that Instalaza and another company, Fabricaciones Extremeñas (FAEX), have closed down their manufacturing processes for cluster munitions.[24] In 2011, Instalaza filed a claim with the government for damages and profits lost from the cancellations of sales to seven countries following the government’s 2008 decision to ban cluster munitions.[25] In January 2014, media reported that Spain’s High Court had rejected Instalaza’s €59.9 million compensation claim.[26] Instalaza is not known to have appealed the decision or taken any further action.

A third company Explosvos Alaveses SA (EXPAL) is not mentioned in the Article 7 reports, but in a letter to the Monitor, Spain confirmed the company produced the BME-330B/AP cluster bomb, which contains eight SAP submunitions and 20 SNA submunitions.[27] According to a standard reference work, EXPAL produced two other variants of BME cluster bombs. The BME-330AT cluster bomb contains 516 bomblets, a mixture of 512 armor-piercing SAC-1 AP antipersonnel bomblets and four MAC-2 antivehicle mines.[28] The BME-330C (multipurpose) cluster bomb holds 180 bomblets of three different types: the CP fragmentation (antipersonnel), the CH shaped charge (anti-armor), and the SNA area denial bomblets.[29]

Spain imported two variants of the Rockeye cluster bomb, the CBU-99B and CBU-100, from the United States (US).[30]

Few details are known on past Spanish exports of cluster munitions, with the exception of the 2008 transfer to Libya. Although, Peru has declared a stockpile of 90 BME-330 cluster bombs and 16,200 submunitions.[31]

Stockpiling and destruction

Under Article 3 of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, Spain is required to destroy all stockpiled cluster munitions under its jurisdiction and control as soon as possible, but not later than 1 August 2018.

Spain was the first signatory to the Convention on Cluster Munitions to report the completion of the destruction of its stockpile in March 2009, but three years later declared additional cluster munitions requiring destruction. In total, Spain has declared a stockpile of 8,362 cluster munitions and 308,245 submunitions.

In its initial Article 7 report provided in 2011, Spain reported the destruction of a stockpile of 4,762 cluster munitions and 232,647 submunitions.[32] The stocks were dismantled and destroyed between December 2008 and March 2009 at a cost of €4.9 million (US$6.8 million).[33]

In the Article 7 report provided in 2012, Spain declared another 3,600 cluster munitions and 75,598 submunitions, which it said Instalaza SA was manufacturing when the unilateral moratorium on cluster munitions was declared on 11 July 2008. The manufacturing cycle was “automatically stopped” mid-process, leaving cluster munitions and submunitions that were in the process of being made.[34] Since 2014, Spain has reported a slightly revised total stockpile to be destroyed of 3,574 MAT-120 cluster munitions and 75,045 submunitions.[35]

The government has not provided a timeframe for the destruction, but it has committed to destroy the cluster munitions by the August 2018 deadline provided by the convention.[36] In its Article 7 reports and in statements, Spain says the government is considering a proposal by Instalaza to destroy the remaining stocks.

Spain’s implementing legislation for the convention specifies the obligation to destroy all cluster munition stocks by the deadline provided by the convention and in accordance with public health and environmental regulations, and to report on the destruction in its annual Article 7 reports.[37] It states that costs for the destruction of cluster munitions will be covered by the owner of the cluster munitions.[38] The legislation also requires that companies inform the Minister of Defence of the type, quantity, and if possible, the lot numbers of each type of cluster munition produced or possessed and provide information on their conversion or decommissioning of production facilities.[39]

Retention

In April 2016, Spain reported the retention of 292 cluster munitions and 6,605 submunitions for training and research purposes, as listed in the following table.

Cluster munitions retained by Spain (as of 31 December 2015)[40]

The cluster munitions that Spain reported in April 2016 are the lowest number retained to date and represent 41% of the original total of 711 cluster munitions and 16,562 submunitions that Spain initially reported it planned to retain in 2011.[41] Spain has been progressively reducing the number of cluster munitions retained for training since 2011, reporting the destruction of a number each year.[42]

During training in 2015, Spain consumed 18 MAT-120 cluster munitions containing 378 submunitions, three BME-330 cluster munitions containing 84 submunitions, one ESPIN-21 cluster munition containing 21 submunitions, and one CBU-100 cluster munition containing 247 submunitions.[43] The cluster munitions are used to train national and foreign clearance experts at the International Demining Training Centre in Madrid.[44]

Spain’s implementing legislation allows it to retain cluster munitions for training purposes, but states that the number should not exceed the minimum quantity absolutely necessary.[45] It also requires the government to report the quantity retained to parliament.

Foreign stockpiling

A United States (US) diplomatic cable dated 26 November 2008 and released by Wikileaks in 2011, indicated that US military forces store cluster munitions in Spain.[46] It is not known if the US still maintains stockpiles of cluster munitions in Spain.

Since 2011, Spain has reported that it has informed states not party that it cooperates with in joint military operations of its obligations and adherence to international agreements on both cluster munitions and landmines, including its commitment to respect the prohibition on storing prohibited weapons on territory under its jurisdiction and control.[47]

In 2015, the Kingdom of Spain reported contributing €385,000 (US$427,196)[1] in mine action funding in Colombia and Mauritania. This represents a 61% decrease from 2014.

Contributions by recipient: 2015[2]

From 2011–2015, Spain contributed some €7.6 million ($10.3 million) to mine action. This represents a 80% decrease from the €40.7 million ($56.1 million) provided during the previous five-year period from 2006–2010.[3] Spain’s reduction in mine action support is a direct result of government-wide austerity measures.

Summary of contributions: 2011–2015[4]