Guyana
Cluster Munition Ban Policy
Summary: State Party Guyana acceded to the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 31 October 2014. It is not clear if Guyana will enact national implementation legislation. Guyana has not participated in any meetings of the convention, but it voted in favor of a UN resolution on the convention in December 2016. Guyana has not provided a transparency report for the convention. It is not known to have used, produced, transferred, or stockpiled cluster munitions.
Policy
The Republic of Guyana acceded to the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 31 October 2014 and became a State Party on 1 April 2015.
The status of Guyana’s national implementation measures for the convention is not known.
As of 30 June 2017, Guyana has not provided an initial Article 7 transparency report for the Convention on Cluster Munitions, originally due by 27 September 2015.
Guyana did not participate in the Oslo Process that created the convention.
It has never attended a meeting of the convention, but government officials expressed interest in the convention on several occasions before Guyana acceded.[1]
In December 2016, Guyana voted in favor of a UN General Assembly (UNGA) resolution, which calls on states outside the Convention on Cluster Munitions to “join as soon as possible.”[2]
Guyana has not elaborated its views on several important issues relating to its interpretation and implementation of the convention, including 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, and prohibition on investment in production of cluster munitions.
Guyana is party to the Mine Ban Treaty. It has not joined the Convention on Conventional Weapons.
Use, production, transfer, and stockpiling
Guyana is not known to have used, produced, transferred, or stockpiled cluster munitions.
[1] For example, in 2010, an official told the Cluster Munition Coalition that Guyana recognized the importance of the convention but did not view accession as a priority. CMC meeting with Bibi Ally, First Secretary, Permanent Mission of the Republic of Guyana to the UN, New York, 19 October 2010.
[2] “Implementation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions,” UNGA Resolution 71/45, 5 December 2016. It voted in favor of a similar resolution in 2015. “Implementation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions,” UNGA Resolution 70/54, 7 December 2015.
Mine Ban Policy
The Republic of Guyana signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 4 December 1997 and ratified it on 5 August 2003, becoming a State Party on 1 February 2004. Guyana has never used or produced antipersonnel mines. Guyana has not enacted new legislation specifically to implement the Mine Ban Treaty. Guyana submitted a Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 report in 2010 covering the period from 2007 to 2009.
Guyana did not attend any Mine Ban Treaty meetings in 2010 or the first half of 2011.
Although the Monitor received information that Guyana had a stockpile, Guyana reported in 2006 that it did not have a stockpile of antipersonnel mines. It is possible that a stockpile was destroyed in an ammunition storage area explosion in 2000.
Guyana is not party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons.