Tanzania
Cluster Munition Ban Policy
Summary: Signatory Tanzania has undertaken extensive stakeholder consultations on the convention, but ratification legislation has not yet been introduced to parliament. Tanzania has participated in all of the convention’s Meetings of States Parties. Tanzania states that it has not used, produced, transferred, or stockpiled cluster munitions.
Policy
The United Republic of Tanzania signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 3 December 2008.
As of June 2016, Tanzania’s ratification of the convention had not been approved by the Cabinet and introduced to parliament for adoption. In Tanzania’s last comment on the matter in May 2013, it described the ratification process as “ongoing” following the conclusion of extensive consultations with relevant actors.[1]
Tanzania has indicated that national legislation to implement the Convention on Cluster Munitions will likely be necessary following ratification.[2]
Tanzania participated in the Oslo Process that created the Convention on Cluster Munitions and worked hard to achieve a strong and comprehensive treaty text during the Dublin negotiations in May 2008.[3]
Tanzania was invited to, but did not attend the First Review Conference of the Convention on Cluster Munitions in Dubrovnik, Croatia in September 2015. Tanzania has participated in all of the convention’s Meetings of States Parties and attended intersessional meetings of the convention in Geneva in 2012–2014. Tanzania has participated in regional workshops on the convention, most recently in Kampala, Uganda in May 2015.[4]
On 7 December 2015, Tanzania voted in favor of the first UN General Assembly (UNGA) resolution on the Convention on Cluster Munitions.[5]
Tanzania is a State Party to the Mine Ban Treaty. It is not party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons.
Use, production, transfer, and stockpiling
Tanzania has stated several times that it has not produced, stockpiled, transferred, or used cluster munitions.[6]
[1] Statement of Tanzania, Lomé Regional Seminar on the Universalization of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, Lomé, Togo, 23 May 2013. During the meeting, a government representative informed the CMC that interagency consultations have been completed and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation is preparing to submit the ratification package to cabinet for approval. CMC meeting with Deusdedit B. Kaganda, Minister Counsellor, Permanent Mission of Tanzania to the UN in Geneva, in Lomé, 22 May 2013.
[2] CMC meeting with Noel Kaganda, First Secretary, Permanent Mission of Tanzania to the UN in New York, New York, 15 October 2009. Notes by the CMC.
[3] For details on Tanzania’s policy and practice regarding cluster munitions through early 2009, see Human Rights Watch and Landmine Action, Banning Cluster Munitions: Government Policy and Practice (Ottawa: Mines Action Canada, May 2009), p. 170.
[4] Norwegian People’s Aid, “Kampala hosts East African Community Countries on cluster bomb ban,” 21 May 2015.
[5] “Implementation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions,” UNGA Resolution 70/54, 7 December 2015.
[6] Statement of Tanzania, Lima Conference on Cluster Munitions, 24 May 2007. Notes by the CMC/Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom; statement of Tanzania, Accra Regional Conference on the Universalization of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, Accra, 28 May 2012; and statement of Tanzania, Lomé Regional Seminar on the Universalization of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, Lomé, Togo, 23 May 2013.