Summary: State Party Paraguay ratified the convention on 12 March 2015. It has participated in several meetings of the convention, most recently in 2015. Paraguay voted in favor of a UN resolution on the convention in 2016. Paraguay provided an initial transparency report for the convention in May 2016, confirming it has never used, produced, transferred, or stockpiled cluster munitions.

Policy

The Republic of Paraguay signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 3 December 2008, ratified on 12 March 2015, and the convention entered into force for Paraguay on 1 September 2015.

It is not clear if Paraguay will enact legislation or other measures to enforce implementation of the convention’s provisions. It listed the ratification legislation—Law 5.373 of 17 December 2014—under national implementation measures in its initial Article 7 transparency measures report for the Convention on Cluster Munitions, provided in May 2016.[1] Paraguay also reported legislation on arms imports.[2]

As of 20 June 2017, Paraguay has not submitted its annual updated transparency report required by 30 April 2017.[3]

Paraguay participated in the Oslo Process that developed the convention, including the formal negotiations in Dublin in May 2008, where it aligned itself with many other Latin American states in pushing for the strongest convention possible.[4]

Paraguay participated in the convention’s Meetings of States Parties in 2010, 2011, and 2014, as well as the First Review Conference in Dubrovnik, Croatia, in September 2015. It did not attend the Sixth Meeting of States Parties in Geneva in September 2016. Paraguay has participated in regional meetings on cluster munitions, most recently in Santiago, Chile, in December 2013.

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

Paraguay has voted in favor of UNGA resolutions condemning the use of cluster munitions in Syria.[6] It has voted for Human Rights Council resolutions condemning the cluster munition attacks in Syria, most recently in March 2017.[7]

Paraguay has not elaborated its views on certain important issues related to 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 the prohibition on investment in cluster munition production.

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

Use, production, transfer, and stockpiling

Paraguay has stated that it does not use, produce, transfer, or stockpile cluster munitions.[8] Paraguay’s initial Article 7 report did not report stockpiling any cluster munitions, including for research and training, or any production facilities.[9] It states that Paraguay has not imported cluster munitions.[10]