Summary: State Party Croatia was among the first 30 ratifications to trigger the convention’s entry into force on 1 August 2010. Croatia has participated in every meeting of the convention and hosted the convention’s First Review Conference in Dubrovnik in September 2015. Croatia voted in favor of a UN resolution on the convention in December 2016 and it has condemned the use of cluster munitions. Croatia has elaborated its views on certain important issues relating to the convention’s interpretation and implementation. In 2011, Croatia reported a stockpile of 7,235 cluster munitions and 178,318 submunitions that must be destroyed by August 2018.

Policy

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

In October 2015, Croatia enacted mine action legislation that it says is “intended to be comprehensive” and “as such, the Act states that each failure in treatment of cluster munitions is subject to misdemeanor sanction.”[1] The law concludes a process that began in 2013 to ensure legislative measures are in place to enforce the convention’s provisions.[2] The law does not impose sanctions to prevent and suppress any activity prohibited under the convention on territory under its jurisdiction or control, however Croatia’s Penal Code does apply.[3]

Croatia’s armed forces include the convention’s obligations in an expanded curriculum on agreements and treaties that Croatia has joined.[4] The Office for Mine Action acts as a focal point for coordination and monitoring of mine action related activities in Croatia, including the operation of the Croatian Mine Action Center (CROMAC).[5]

Croatia provided its initial Article 7 report for the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 10 April 2011 and has submitted annual updated reports since then, most recently on 19 May 2017.[6]

Croatia made many notable contributions throughout the Oslo Process that led to the creation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions and, from its experience as an affected state, advocated for the strongest possible provisions on victim assistance.[7] Croatia enacted a moratorium on the use, production, and transfer of cluster munitions in 2007, prior to the conclusion of the process.[8]

Croatia has participated in every Meeting of States Parties of the convention and attended every intersessional meeting held in 2011–2015.

Croatia hosted the convention’s First Review Conference in Dubrovnik on 7–11 September 2015, which was attended by 92 countries (61 States Parties, nine signatories, and 22 non-signatories) in addition to UN agencies, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), and the Cluster Munition Coalition (CMC).[9] Croatian Prime Minister Zoran Milanović was elected as president of the First Review Conference and called on all countries to reject the use of cluster munitions and join the convention in his opening address.[10] The Review Conference adopted an action plan and the “Dubrovnik Declaration” committing to “work towards a world free of the suffering, casualties and socio-economic impacts caused by cluster munitions.”[11]

Croatia has also hosted and participated in regional workshops on the convention. At a regional workshop held near Zagreb in June 2017, Croatia gave a presentation on the status of contaminated areas and progress in cluster munition stockpile destruction.[12]

Croatia drafted, co-sponsored, and voted in favor of the first UN General Assembly (UNGA) resolution on the Convention on Cluster Munitions in December 2015, which supports the convention’s universalization and implementation.[13] It voted in favor of another UNGA resolution on the convention in December 2016.[14]

Croatia has condemned the use of cluster munitions in Libya, Sudan, Syria, Ukraine, and Yemen.[15] In October 2016, Croatia repeated its call to all states to refrain from the use of cluster munitions, particularly in Syria.[16]

Croatia has voted in favor of recent UNGA resolutions expressing outrage at the use of cluster munitions in Syria, most recently in December 2016.[17] It has also voted in favor of Human Rights Council resolutions condemning the use of cluster munitions in Syria, most recently in March 2017.[18]

Croatia is a State Party to the Mine Ban Treaty. It is also party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW).

Interpretive issues

Croatia has elaborated its views on several important issues relating to the interpretation and implementation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions. It considers transit of cluster munitions across, or foreign stockpiling of cluster munitions on, the national territory of States Parties to be prohibited by the convention and also views investment in the production of cluster munitions as prohibited by the convention’s prohibition on assistance.[19] Croatia has stated, “As for the interoperability and use of cluster munitions by countries that are not signatories to the [convention], and are serving within joint military operations, Republic of Croatia will act in accordance with provisions stipulated in Article 21 of the Convention.”[20]

In 2012, Croatia stated that it agrees with concerns raised by CMC about how the convention’s phrase “minimum number of cluster munitions absolutely necessary” for the retention of cluster munitions would be interpreted and said it is “crucial that states comply fully with the detailed reporting requirement on cluster munitions retained for development and training.”[21]

Use, production, and transfer

Croatia has stated that it does not produce cluster munitions, never imported them, and that the armed forces of Croatia have not used them, including in missions under UN auspices.[22]

Croatia informed the Monitor that “no Yugoslav production facilities for cluster munitions or their components were formerly located in Croatia,” but it has acknowledged that until 1999 a Croatian company named SUIS d.o.o. in Kumrovec produced a cluster munition called the M93 120mm mortar projectile.[23] Croatia has reported that the production facilities were officially decommissioned when bankruptcy proceedings for the company were completed in 2006.[24]

On 2–3 May 1995, forces of the self-proclaimed Republic of Serbian Krajina (Republika Srpska Krajina, RSK) under the leadership of Milan Martić attacked Zagreb with M87 Orkan cluster munition rockets, killing at least seven civilians and injuring more than 200.[25] Additionally, the Croatian government has claimed that Serb forces dropped BL755 cluster bombs in Sisak, Kutina, and along the Kupa River.[26]

Stockpiling

Croatia inherited a stockpile of cluster munitions during the breakup of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.[27] It once stockpiled a total of 7,235 cluster munitions and 178,318 submunitions, as shown in the following table.

Croatia’s cluster munition stockpile (as of 31 December 2016)[28]

Stockpile destruction

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

Croatia has reported that it has “all capabilities and facilities to destroy remaining stockpiles” by the end of 2017;[29] however, no cluster munition stocks were destroyed in 2016. Previously, during 2015, Croatia destroyed 639 cluster munitions and 24,200 submunitions and had 6,596 cluster munitions and 154,118 submunitions left to be destroyed, as shown in the table above.

The stocks are held Golubić and Pleso, near the destruction site at the Slunj military training ground.[30] Croatia’s armed forces have been tasked to destroy the stockpile in accordance with standard operating procedures.[31]

Croatia began destroying the stocks after it completed the clearance of the former military ammunition depot at Pađene.[32] At least 153 cluster munitions and their submunitions stored at the Pađene facility were destroyed in a September 2011 explosion at the site caused by a forest fire.[33]

The stockpile is being destroyed through a combination of disassembly, recycling, and open burning/detonation to minimize contamination and environmental impact by maximizing the re-use, recycling, and reprocessing of materials wherever possible.[34]

Croatia estimates it will cost approximately €200,000 to complete its stockpile destruction obligations under the convention.[35]

Retention

Croatia has not retained any live cluster munitions or submunitions for training and development purposes as permitted by Article 3 of the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

Since 2011, Croatia has retained 14 inert cluster munitions and 1,737 inert submunitions for training and educational purposes, including to display at a military museum, but states that the cluster munitions will be disassembled and the submunitions disarmed and rendered free from explosives.[36] Croatia has encouraged other States Parties to “consider this technique of retention,” by retaining inert rather than live cluster munitions.[37]