Botswana

Cluster Munition Ban Policy

Last updated: 11 July 2017

Summary: State Party Botswana ratified the convention on 27 June 2011. It participated in the convention’s Sixth Meeting of States Parties in 2016 and voted in favor of a key UN General Assembly (UNGA) resolution on the convention in December 2016.

In its initial transparency report for the convention, provided in 2012, Botswana confirmed it has never used or produced cluster munitions. Botswana has requested assistance to destroy its stockpile of 510 cluster munitions and 12,900 submunitions by the 1 December 2019 deadline.

Policy

The Republic of Botswana signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 3 December 2008, ratified on 27 June 2011, and the convention entered into force for the country on 1 December 2011.

In May 2017, Botswana reported that it has “just started the process of taking legal and administrative measures to domesticate this Convention.”[1] Since 2012, Botswana has reported various consultations and other measures aimed at preparing implementing legislation for the convention.[2]

Botswana submitted its initial Article 7 transparency report for the Convention on Cluster Munitions in August 2012 and has provided annual updates since then, most recently in April 2017, reporting no changes.[3]

Botswana participated in the Oslo Process that created the Convention on Cluster Munitions and sought a comprehensive and immediate ban during the formal negotiations in Dublin in May 2008.[4]

Botswana participated in the Sixth Meeting of States Parties in Geneva in September 2016 and in one Meeting of States Parties before that, in November 2010. It has attended regional workshops on cluster munitions, most recently in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in August 2016.[5]

In December 2016, Botswana voted in favor of a key UNGA resolution promoting implementation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions.[6]

Botswana has also voted in favor of UNGA resolutions expressing outrage at the use of cluster munitions in Syria, most recently in December 2016.[7] It has voted in favor of Human Rights Council resolutions condemning cluster munition use in Syria, most recently in March 2017.[8]

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

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

Use, production, and transfer

Botswana declared in its initial transparency report submitted in August 2012 that it has “never produced cluster munitions” and has no production facilities.[9] The report also confirms that Botswana has never used cluster munitions.[10]

Stockpile destruction

Botswana has declared a stockpile of 510 cluster munitions of two types and 12,900 submunitions:

  • 500 120mm mortar projectiles, each containing 21 submunitions, totaling 10,500; and
  • 10 CBU-250K air-dropped bombs, each containing 240 submunitions, totaling 2,400.[11]

Under Article 3 of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, Botswana is required to destroy all its stockpiled cluster munitions as soon as possible, but not later than 1 December 2019.

Botswana reports that the stockpile will be destroyed at a location in the Taukgolo Ranges near Shoshong village.[12]

In April 2017, Botswana reported that it has requested assistance from Norwegian People’s Aid to destroy its stockpiled cluster munitions.[13]

Botswana reports that it is not retaining any cluster munitions for research and training purposes.[14]



[2] In 2012, Botswana said that consultations were being undertaken on implementation legislation for the convention. See Botswana Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 7 Report, Form A, 31 August 2012.

[3] The initial report covered the period to 29 May 2012, while the most recent report covers calendar year 2016.

[4] For details on Botswana’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), pp. 45–46.

[5]  “The Addis Ababa Commitment on Universalization and Implementation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions,” Africa Regional Workshop on the Universalization of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, 5 August 2016.   Botswana also participated in a regional workshop in Lusaka, Zambia in June 2015.

[6] “Implementation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions,” UNGA Resolution 71/45, 5 December 2016. Botswana voted in favor of a similar resolution in 2015. “Implementation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions,” UNGA Resolution 70/54, 7 December 2015.

[7]Situation of human rights in the Syrian Arab Republic,” UNGA Resolution 71/203, 19 December 2016. Botswana voted in favor of similar resolutions in 2013–2015.

[8]The human rights situation in the Syrian Arab Republic,” HRC Resolution 34/26, 24 March 2017.

[9] Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 7 Report, Forms D and E, 31 August 2012. It has repeated this status in subsequent Article 7 reports.

[10] According to the report, “Botswana has never fired any of the cluster munitions.” Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 7 Report, Form F, 31 August 2012.

[13] Botswana Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 7 Report, Form B, 30 April 2017. See also, Minutes of the Convention on Cluster Munitions Coordination Committee Meeting, held at the Permanent Mission of the Federal Republic of Germany, Geneva, 23 March 2017.