Summary: Non-signatory Saudi Arabia has never made a public statement elaborating its views on accession to the convention. It has participated as an observer in every meeting of the convention, except in 2016. Saudi Arabia abstained from voting on key UN resolutions on the convention in 2015 and 2016.

Saudi Arabia is not known to have produced or exported cluster munitions, but has acquired and used them, and maintains a stockpile. Since March 2015, Saudi Arabia has been leading an operation by a coalition of states against Ansar Allah (Houthi) forces in Yemen, which has used air-dropped and ground-launched cluster munitions in widely-condemned attacks.

Policy

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has not acceded to the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

Saudi Arabia has not made a public statement regarding its position on accession to the convention. In April 2012, its diplomatic mission in Geneva informed the Monitor that “the Convention on Cluster Munitions is still under examination by the competent authorities in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.”[1]

In December 2016, Saudi Arabia abstained from voting on a UN General Assembly (UNGA) resolution urging states outside the Convention on Cluster Munitions to “join as soon as possible.”[2] It did not explain why it abstained from the non-binding resolution or from the vote on the first UNGA resolution on the convention in December 2015.[3]

Saudi Arabia participated in several meetings of the Oslo Process, including the Dublin negotiations in May 2008, as an observer.[4] Yet, Saudi Arabia did not attend the Convention on Cluster Munitions Signing Conference in Oslo in December 2008.

Saudi Arabia participated as an observer in every annual Meeting of States Parties of the convention except in 2014 and the Sixth Meeting of States Parties in Geneva in September 2016. It attended the convention’s First Review Conference in 2015. Unlike other non-signatories, Saudi Arabia did not make any statements at these meetings.

Saudi Arabia has voted in favor of UNGA resolutions condemning the use of cluster munitions in Syria, most recently in December 2016.[5] It has also voted in favor of Human Rights Council resolutions condemning the use of cluster munitions in Syria, most recently in March 2017.[6]

Saudi Arabia is not party to the Mine Ban Treaty. Saudi Arabia is party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons.

Production, transfer, and stockpiling

Saudi Arabia is not known to have produced or exported cluster munitions, but it has acquired and stockpiles them.

In late May 2016, the Obama administration suspended all sales and deliveries of United States (US) cluster munitions to Saudi Arabia after reports that Saudi Arabia used them in civilian areas in Yemen.[7] (See Use section below.)

Saudi Arabia concluded a contract with the US Department of Defense in August 2013 to purchase 1,300 CBU-105 Sensor Fuzed Weapons manufactured by US company Textron Defense Systems. The foreign military sale contract specified a completion date for the transfer by December 2015.[8] Another deal to provide an additional 404 CBU-105s for Saudi Arabia was announced in 2011.[9]

According to the US Department of Defense, as recipient, Saudi Arabia must agree that “cluster munitions and cluster munitions technology will be used only against clearly defined military targets and will not be used where civilians are known to be present or in areas normally inhabited by civilians.”[10] This language is required by a US law restricting the export of cluster munitions.

Previous US transfers of cluster munitions to Saudi Arabia include 1,000 CBU-58 and 350 CBU-71 cluster bombs sometime between 1970 and 1995.[11] In 1991, the US announced its intent to transfer 1,200 CBU-87 Combined Effects Munitions cluster bombs.[12] The US transferred 600 CBU-87 cluster bombs to Saudi Arabia as part of a larger package of arms sales announced in 1992.[13]

Jane’s Information Group has reported that British-produced BL-755 cluster bombs are in service with the Saudi air force.[14] Saudi Arabia also possesses Hydra-70 and CRV-7 air-to-surface rockets, but it is not known if the stocks include the M261 submunition variant.[15]

Use

On 26 March 2015, Saudi Arabia has been leading a coalition of states in a military operation in Yemen against Ansar Allah (Houthi) and their allied forces that was continuing as of 1 July 2017, despite multiple ceasefire agreements in 2016 and repeated calls for ceasefire agreements in 2017.[16] The coalition has used air-dropped and ground-launched cluster munitions in widely-condemned attacks.

None of the states participating in the coalition—Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Morocco, Pakistan, Qatar (until June 2017), Sudan, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE)—are party to the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

Human Rights Watch (HRW), Amnesty International, and others have documented evidence of at least 22 cluster munition attacks in the conflict involving the use of seven types of cluster munitions manufactured and exported by three countries, as the following table shows.

Cluster munitions used in Yemen since April 2015[17]

Use during the past year

In the second half of 2016 and the first half of 2017, only a few incidents of cluster munition use were recorded in Yemen. The Saudi-led coalition used Brazilian-made ASTROS II cluster munition rockets in Saada governorate on at least three locations, most recently in February 2017, according to investigations by Amnesty International and HRW.[18]

On 5 October 2016, a fisherman in the coastal village of al-Hayma was killed in a CBU-105 Sensor Fuzed Weapon attack.[19]

There were a few more instances of alleged cluster munition use in the period, but it was not possible to verify the evidence or conclusively determine responsibility for the attacks.[20] While other cluster munition use likely went unrecorded, overall use in Yemen appeared limited compared to the widely-condemned attacks of 2015 and the first half of 2016 in which various types of cluster munitions were used.

In September 2016, States Parties to the Convention on Cluster Munitions issued a joint declaration stating that they “condemn any use by any actor” and expressing deep concern at “any and all allegations, reports or documented evidence of the use of cluster munitions, most notably in Syria and Yemen in the past year.”[21]

On 15 June 2017, the European Parliament (EP) adopted a resolution condemning the Saudi-led coalition airstrikes in Yemen, including its use of cluster munitions. It adopted similar resolutions on 25 February 2016 and 9 July 2015 condemning the coalition’s use of cluster munitions in Yemen.[22]

All of the convention’s presidents have issued statements condemning the use of cluster munitions in Yemen since 2015, including Germany’s Ambassador Michael Biontino, who is president-designate of the Seventh Meeting of States Parties to be held in Geneva in September 2017. The UN, the ICRC, and the Cluster Munition Coalition (CMC) have condemned the use of cluster munitions in Yemen. In March 2017, the CMC launched a campaign to encourage Yemen and Saudi Arabia to join the Convention on Cluster Munitions and for the Saudi coalition to cease the use of cluster munitions in Yemen.[23]

Earlier cluster munition use by the Saudi-led coalition

Between April 2015 and October 2016, the Saudi Arabia-led coalition used CBU-105 Sensor Fuzed Weapons in at least seven attacks.[24] The UAE has denied using CBU-105 Sensor Fuzed Weapons in Yemen.[25] Saudi Arabia’s coalition spokesperson Brig. Gen. Ahmed Asiri said the coalition used CBU-105 Sensor Fuzed Weapons once, in April 2015, but not in a populated area and claimed they are not prohibited weapons.[26]

The CBU-105 is the only cluster munition exported by the US, and is only exported on the condition that it is not used in civilian areas. The weapon must also have a failure rate that results in less than 1% unexploded ordnance. [27] In May 2016, the Obama administration suspended US cluster munition transfers to Saudi Arabia following reports of civilian harm in Yemen.[28] Cluster munitions are not part of a major 2017 arms deal by the US with Saudi Arabia. On 30 August 2016, CBU-105 manufacturer Textron Systems announced that it is stopping its production of the weapons, effectively ending US production of cluster munitions as it was the last producer.[29]

Investigations by Amnesty International showed coalition use of United Kingdom (UK)-made BL755 cluster munitions remnants in 2015 and the first half of 2016.[30] In December 2016, Saudi Arabia finally admitted to using UK-produced cluster munitions in Yemen and said the coalition would no longer use them.[31] This marked the first time that UK-made cluster munitions have been used since the Convention on Cluster Munitions, to which the UK is party, took effect in 2010. Until December 2016 the UK denied evidence detailing Saudi-led coalition use of cluster munitions in Yemen, when the British Minister of Defence Michael Fallon admitted in parliament that the coalition had used “a limited number” of UK-supplied cluster munitions in the conflict.[32] The UK has publicly disclosed that its last transfer of BL755 cluster munitions to Saudi Arabia was in 1989.[33]

Responses to the cluster munition use

In December 2016, the government-controlled Saudi Press Agency published a statement on behalf of the “Coalition Forces Supporting Legitimacy in Yemen” that stated:

“International law does not ban the use of cluster munitions. Some States have undertaken a commitment to refrain from using cluster munitions by becoming party to the 2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions. Neither the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia nor its Coalition partners are State Parties to the 2008 Convention, and accordingly, the Coalition’s use of cluster munitions does not violate the obligations of these States under international law.”[34]

The Saudi-led coalition’s investigative mechanism, the Joint Incidents Assessment Team (JIAT) is not known to have investigated any attacks involving cluster munitions.[35]

The government of Saudi Arabia has not issued any formal statements to confirm or deny other reports that the Saudi-led coalition used cluster munitions multiple times in Yemen.[36] Previously, its principle military spokesperson Brig. Gen. Ahmed Asiri has admitted in media interviews to one instance of use of CBU-105 Sensor Fuzed Weapons in April 2015 in Hajja governorate, but argued it was not in a populated area and they are not prohibited weapons.[37]

The UAE has denied using CBU-105 Sensor Fuzed Weapons in Yemen.[38] No other coalition member has commented on the coalition’s use of cluster munition in Yemen or responded to the CMC letters calling for an end to the use of cluster munitions in Yemen.[39]

Previous use

Saudi Arabia likely used cluster munitions in Yemen’s Saada governorate in late 2009, when the Saudi air force conducted airstrikes and Saudi armed forces intervened on the ground after fighting between the government of Yemen and Ansar Allah intensified, spilling over the border with Saudi Arabia. Remnants of CBU-52 cluster bombs were filmed near Saada City and broadcast by VICE News in May 2014.[40] In 2013, the Monitor reviewed photographs taken by mine clearance operators showing the remnants of unexploded BLU-97 and BLU-61 submunitions as well as dual-purpose improved conventional munition (DPICM) submunitions of unknown origin.[41]

In 1991, both Saudi and US forces used cluster munitions on the territory of Saudi Arabia in response to an incursion by Iraqi armored units in the prelude to Operation Desert Storm. During the battle of Khafji in January 1991, Saudi Arabia attacked Iraqi forces with cluster munitions fired from ASTROS multi-barrel rocket launchers, which Saudi Arabia had acquired from Brazil.[42] The weapons reportedly left behind significant amounts of unexploded submunitions.[43]