Summary: State Party Benin ratified the convention on 10 July 2017 and the convention will enter into force for the country on 1 January 2018. The status of Benin’s national implementation measures is not yet known. Benin has participated in several of the convention’s meetings and voted in favor of a key UN resolution on the convention in December 2016. Benin states that it has never used, produced, transferred, or stockpiled cluster munitions.

Policy

The Republic of Benin signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 3 December 2008.

On 21 June 2017, Benin’s head of state, President Patrice Talon, signed the country’s instrument of ratification for the convention.[1] Benin’s Ambassador Jean-Claude do Rego deposited the ratification instrument with the United Nations (UN) in New York on 10 July 2017.[2] The convention will enter into force for Benin on 1 January 2018.

The status of Benin’s national implementation measures is not yet known. In 2012, an official said that once Benin ratifies, the provisions of the Convention on Cluster Munitions may be enforced by amending existing implementing implementation legislation for the Mine Ban Treaty.[3]

Benin must provide an initial Article 7 transparency report for the convention no later than 30 June 2018.

Benin participated in the Oslo Process that created the Convention on Cluster Munitions and was a strong advocate for a comprehensive ban.[4]

Benin has participated in all the convention’s Meetings of States Parties, except in 2011 and 2016, and also participated in intersessional meetings in 2011–2014. It did not attend the First Review Conference, but has participated in regional workshops on the convention.

In December 2016, Benin voted in favor of a key UN General Assembly (UNGA) resolution on the Convention on Cluster Munitions, which urges states outside the convention to “join as soon as possible.”[5]

Benin has voted in favor of UNGA resolutions expressing outrage at the use of cluster munitions in Syria, most recently in December 2016.[6]

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

Use, production, transfer, and stockpiling

Benin has stated several times that it has never used, produced, or stockpiled cluster munitions, is not a transit country, and has no intention to acquire cluster munitions.[7] Benin must submit a transparency report for the convention to formally confirm its cluster munition-free status.