Summary: Non-signatory Oman has not provided its views on cluster munitions or commented on its position on acceding to the convention.Oman abstained from voting on key UN resolutions on the convention in 2016 and 2015. It has participated as an observer in several meetings of the convention, most recently in September 2016. Oman is not known to have used, produced, or exported cluster munitions, but it has imported cluster munitions and likely stockpiles them.

Policy

The Sultanate of Oman has not acceded to the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

Oman has not made a public statement articulating its views on cluster munitions or its position on joining the convention.[1] Government officials told the Cluster Munition Coalition in October 2016 that Oman is studying the convention, but did not indicate when that process would conclude.[2]

In December 2016, Oman abstained from voting on a UN General Assembly (UNGA) resolution, which urges states outside the Convention on Cluster Munitions to “join as soon as possible.”[3] Oman also abstained from the vote on the first UNGA resolution on the convention in December 2015.[4]

Oman participated in several meetings of the Oslo Process, including the formal negotiations in Dublin in May 2008 as an observer, but it did not sign the convention in December 2008.[5]

Oman attended the convention’s Meetings of States Parties of the convention in 2011, 2013, and the Sixth Meeting of States Parties in Geneva in September 2016. It also participated in the convention’s First Review Conference in 2015. 

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

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

Use, production, transfer, and stockpiling

Oman is not known to have used, produced, or exported cluster munitions.

Oman possess a stockpile of cluster munitions. In 2002, the United States (US) announced the sale of 50 CBU-97/105 Sensor Fuzed Weapons to Oman.[7] Jane’s Information Group reports that Oman possesses BL755 and Rockeye cluster bombs.[8] It also has 122mm Grad-type and Hyrda-70 rocket launchers, but it is not known if the last two include ammunition stockpiles that include cluster munitions.

Policy

The Sultanate of Oman acceded to the Mine Ban Treaty on 20 August 2014 and the treaty entered into force for the country on 1 February 2015, making Oman the 162^nd State Party.

Previously, Oman reported that it had directed the legislative authority to create legislation that criminalizes any violation of the treaty and established a permanent committee for the implementation of the treaty at the office of the army chief of staff.[1] In its Article 7 report submitted in May 2017, Oman reported that it had taken several legal measures to implement the Mine Ban Treaty, including Sultan’s Order 26/2014 on joining the convention, and that Oman had included the convention articles in Omani Penal Law and Military Judicial Law, and ordered all military institutions to cease providing instruction on antipersonnel landmine use.[2]

Oman participated in the Ottawa Process leading to the Mine Ban Treaty and has remained sporadically engaged.[3] The ICBL engaged with Oman on the Mine Ban Treaty for years, with visits to Muscat by its diplomatic adviser in 2012 and other representatives in 2007. In March 2014, Oman’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Youssef bin Alawi bin Abdullah, informed the Mine Ban Treaty envoy, Princess Astrid of Belgium, of the government’s decision to join the Mine Ban Treaty.

Oman’s Ambassador Lyutha Sultan Al-Mughairy deposited the accession instrument at the UN in New York on 20 August 2014. In a statement, she said the move “demonstrates that all States from all parts of the world have a role to play in ending the suffering caused by these insidious weapons.”[4]

With Oman’s accession, half of the Gulf Coordination Council (GCC) members are now party to the treaty, while Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates have not joined.

Oman participated as an observer at the Mine Ban Treaty’s First Review Conference in Nairobi in 2004 and the Third Review Conference in Maputo, Mozambique, in June 2014. It attended most of the treaty’s Meetings of States Parties, including the Fifteenth Meeting of States Parties in Geneva in November–December 2016, where it did not make any statements. Oman has also participated in many of the treaty’s intersessional meetings in Geneva, but did not attend those held in June 2017.

Oman is not a party to the Convention on Cluster Munitions or the Convention on Conventional Weapons.

Use, production, transfer, and stockpiling

Oman is obligated to destroy its stockpile of antipersonnel mines as soon as possible and no later than 1 February 2019.

In its initial Article 7 transparency report in 2015, Oman declared a stockpile of 17,260 antipersonnel mines of Belgian, British, and German manufacture.[5] It has stated its intention to retain 2,000 antipersonnel mines and has established an implementation unit to organize stockpile destruction and clearance.[6] Oman noted in its initial Article 7 report that while it possessed an operational stock of claymore mines, they were limited to command detonation mode.[7]

Oman’s third Article 7 transparency report stated that it destroyed 3,052 antipersonnel mines during 2016.[8] To date, Oman has declared the destruction of 4,578 antipersonnel mines, 30% of its stockpile.

Officials previously stated that Oman has never produced or exported antipersonnel mines, but imported and used them in the past.[9]

Suspected to be contaminated by mines.

Article 5 deadline: 1 February 2025

(Unclear whether on target to meet deadline)

Recommendations for action

• The Sultanate of Oman should present plans for implementation of its Mine Ban Treaty Article 5 obligations at the earliest opportunity, at least at the Mine Ban Treaty Fifteenth Meeting of States Parties.
  • In doing so, Oman should detail any needs for international technical assistance in non-technical and technical survey of mined areas.
  • Oman should provide precise information on areas surveyed and cleared, as well as the number of antipersonnel mines destroyed.

Contamination

Oman is suspected to be contaminated by mines, though the precise location and extent of any residual threat is not known. In its initial Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 transparency report, submitted in 2015, Oman declared that there were no areas in the Sultanate confirmed to be mined, but reported “many” suspected mined areas in the south, particularly in Dhofar region.[1]

According to its 2015 report, during the mid-1960s to mid-1970s the presence of rebel movements in Dhofar led to “vast” areas being affected by antipersonnel and antivehicle mines. After the end of the conflict in 1975, the government made significant efforts to clear the areas, but it is impossible to be sure that the areas have been fully cleared. This is for three reasons: the size of the region (about 99,000km²); the lack of maps or marking; and the terrain (which includes mountains and valleys), with many mined areas located on steep slopes. In addition, rain over the years may have scattered the mines.[2] 

In 2001, it was reported that the Royal Army of Oman had mapped seven zones of suspected mined areas based on historical records of battlefield areas, unit positions, and mine incident reports.[3]

Program Management

Oman has no functioning mine action program. In its Article 7 transparency report for 2016, however, it reported that survey and clearance is being performed by its army engineers.[4]

Land Release

Oman has reported that it cleared a mined area at Sarfait in Dhofar governorate in 2016, but it has not reported the area cleared nor the number and type of mines that were destroyed.[5] Sarfait is a settlement on the coast of the Arabian Sea, near the border with Yemen. 

In addition, Oman stated that a number of suspected mined areas in Dhofar governorate have been marked with warning signs. It reported that minefield fencing will be erected “based on need.”[6]

Article 5 Compliance

Under Article 5 of the Mine Ban Treaty, Oman is required to destroy all antipersonnel mines in mined areas under its jurisdiction or control as soon as possible, but not later than 1 February 2025.

It is too early to say whether Oman will meet this deadline but it should be readily achievable if modern land release approaches are employed successfully. Oman did not take the floor at the Fourteenth or Fifteenth Meeting of States Parties to present a plan to implement its Article 5 obligations. In its Article 7 report for 2016, Oman stated only that mined areas will be destroyed “in cooperation with any linked entity and without conflicting with Omani sovereignty.”[7]

The Monitor acknowledges the contributions of the Mine Action Review (www.mineactionreview.org), which has conducted the mine action research in 2017, including on survey and clearance, and shared all its resulting landmine and cluster munition reports with the Monitor. The Monitor is responsible for the findings presented online and in its print publications.

No contribution from the Sultanate of Oman was reported for 2014.

Between 2011–2013, Oman provided a total of US$300,000 to mine action in Afghanistan through the UN Voluntary Trust Fund for Assistance in Mine Action (VTF).[1]