Summary: Non-signatory Thailand has expressed support for the convention’s humanitarian objectives, but has not taken any steps towards accession besides study the implications of joining. Thailand has participated in all of the convention’s meetings and voted in favor of a UN resolution on the convention in December 2015. Thailand is not known to have produced or exported cluster munitions, but it has imported them and possesses a stockpile. Thailand’s only known use of cluster munitions was in Cambodia during a February 2011 border dispute.

Policy

The Kingdom of Thailand has not acceded to the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

At the UN General Assembly (UNGA) First Committee on Disarmament and International Security in October 2015, Thailand said it “recognises and supports the humanitarian principles, as well as the object and purpose” of the Convention on Cluster Munitions.[1] Its representative said, “We are in the process of verifying scope and meaning under the CCM [Convention on Cluster Munitions], with a view to possible accession in the future.”

In a statement to the high-level segment of the convention’s First Review Conference in September 2015, Thailand similarly stated that it has “been closely following developments with a view to consider acceding to the Convention once we are ready to fulfill its obligations.”[2] It noted the “growing number” of States Parties to the convention, which it said has “firmly established an international norm against the use of cluster bombs.”

Thailand has often expressed its support for the humanitarian objectives of the convention.[3] In June 2015, a government representative told the Monitor of Thailand’s desire to accede to the convention, but was unable to provide a timeline for when it might join.[4] After Thailand used cluster munitions in early February 2011 during a border conflict with Cambodia, Thailand’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Kasit Piromya, told the UN Security Council, “We are seriously considering joining the Convention on Cluster Munitions.”[5] (See section on Use below.)

On 7 December 2015, Thailand voted in favor of a UNGA resolution on the Convention on Cluster Munitions, which urges states outside the convention to “join as soon as possible.”[6] Thailand did not explain why it voted to support the non-binding resolution, which 140 states voted to adopt, including many non-signatories.

Thailand participated in most of the diplomatic conferences of the Oslo Process that created the Convention on Cluster Munitions, but attended the formal negotiations in May 2008 only as an observer and did not sign the convention when it was opened for signature in Oslo in December 2008.[7]

As Thailand has noted, it remains engaged in the framework of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, despite the lack of accession. It participated as an observer in the convention’s First Review Conference in Dubrovnik, Croatia in September 2015. Thailand has attended all of the convention’s annual Meetings of States Parties as well as its intersessional meetings in Geneva in 2011–2015.

Thailand voted in favor of a UNGA resolution on 23 December 2015 that expressed outrage at the continued use of cluster munitions in Syria.[8]

Thailand is a State Party to the Mine Ban Treaty. It is not party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons.

Production, transfer, and stockpiling

Thailand is not known to have ever produced or exported cluster munitions.

Thailand possesses a stockpile of cluster munitions, but has not disclosed information on the types or quantities possessed. In December 2008, Thailand announced that it does not intend to acquire more cluster munitions.[9]

The United States (US) supplied Thailand with 500 Rockeye and 200 CBU-71 air-dropped cluster bombs at some point between 1970 and 1995.[10] Cluster Munition Monitor learned in January 2016 that Thailand also received 2,806 cluster munitions containing 850,268 submunitions from the US after the US War Reserve Stock in Thailand (WRS-THAI) was dissolved by a 2002 agreement.[11]

Thailand also possesses French-made NR-269 ERFB extended-range 155mm artillery projectiles, each containing 56 M42/M46-type[12] dual-purpose improved conventional munition (DPICM) submunitions.[13] Based on the types of submunitions identified in Cambodia after the February 2011 artillery strikes, Thailand also possesses a cluster munition that delivers M85 self-destructing DPICM submunitions.

Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA) has provided the government with advice and information on possible solutions for the destruction of Thailand’s stockpile of cluster munitions.[14]

Use

In 2009 and 2010, Thai and Cambodian military forces engaged in several brief skirmishes over disputed parts of the border near the Preah Vihear temple, resulting in claims and counter-claims of new antipersonnel mine use.[15] In February 2011, the Cambodian Mine Action Centre (CMAC), a government entity, claimed that Thai military forces fired cluster munitions during fighting on the border at Preah Vihear.[16] Separate missions by CMC members in February and April 2011 confirmed that ground-delivered cluster munitions were used by Thailand on Cambodian territory, including M42/M46 and M85-type DPICM submunitions.[17] The CMC urged Thailand to provide detailed information on the cluster munition strikes and encouraged both Cambodia and Thailand to join the Convention on Cluster Munitions without delay.

Thailand’s use of cluster munitions elicited widespread concern and a strong international response.[18] Thailand at first denied using cluster munitions.[19] It then stated that it “fully understands the concerns raised” over the cluster munition use and promised to “remain committed to engaging with the international community on this issue.”[20]