Spain

Cluster Munition Ban Policy

Last updated: 04 August 2017

Summary: State Party Spain was among the first 30 ratifications to trigger the convention’s entry into force on 1 August 2010. It amended existing legislation in July 2015 to incorporate the convention’s provisions into domestic law. Spain has participated in every meeting of the convention and served as co-coordinator for the convention on stockpile destruction in 2012–2014. It voted in favor of a key UN resolution on the convention in December 2016. Spain has elaborated its views on several important issues relating to the interpretation and implementation of the convention.

Spain states that it has never used cluster munitions. In its initial transparency report for the convention provided in 2011, Spain acknowledged past production and transfer of cluster munitions and reported that it completed destruction of its stockpile of 4,762 cluster munitions and 232,647 submunitions in 2009. In 2012, Spain reported additional stocks of 3,574 cluster munitions and 75,045 submunitions. It destroyed 669 of these cluster munitions and 14,040 submunitions in 2016. Spain has reduced the number of cluster munitions retained for training to 115 cluster munitions and 2,888 submunitions, which is less than one-fifth of the amount it initially said it would retain.

Policy

The Kingdom of Spainsigned the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 3 December 2008, ratified on 17 June 2009, and was among the first 30 ratifications to trigger the convention’s entry into force on 1 August 2010.

Spain amended its 1998 implementing legislation for the Mine Ban Treaty (Law 33/1998) to incorporate the provisions of the Convention on Cluster Munitions and the amended law took effect on 30 July 2015.[1] Spain also amended its Penal Code in June 2010 to provide sanctions for violations of the convention’s provisions.[2]

Spain declared a unilateral moratorium on use, production, and transfer of cluster munitions on 11 July 2008, prior to the convention’s entry into force.[3] Spanish armed forces implemented the convention in accordance with Directive No. 71/2008, issued by the Secretary of Defense on 30 July 2008.[4]

Spain submitted its initial Article 7 transparency report for the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 27 January 2011 and has provided annual updated reports ever since, most recently on 30 April 2017.[5]

Spain participated throughout the Oslo Process that created the Convention on Cluster Munitions and its position evolved significantly to embrace a comprehensive ban on all cluster munitions. Following the adoption of the convention in Dublin in May 2008, Spain rapidly began to implement its provisions.[6]

Spain has participated in every Meeting of States Parties of the convention, including the Sixth Meeting of States Parties in Geneva in September 2016. It attended the convention’s First Review Conference in 2015 and intersessional meetings in in 2011–2015. In December 2016, Spain voted in favor of a UN General Assembly (UNGA) resolution that calls on all states not party to the Convention on Cluster Munitions to join “as soon as possible.”[7] Spain also voted in favor of the first UNGA resolution promoting implementation of the convention in December 2015.[8]

Spain regularly highlights the importance of collaboration between states, international organizations, and civil society in working for the convention’s universalization and implementation.[9] At the UNGA First Committee on Disarmament and International Security in October 2016, Spain reiterated its call for renewed political will to achieve these objectives.[10]

Spain last expressed its concern at new use of cluster munitions in 2011, when it condemned the use of Spanish-made and -supplied cluster munitions in Libya by government forces of then-leader Muammar Gaddafi.[11] The Monitor is not aware of any public statements by Spain protesting new cluster munition use since 2011.

Spain has, however, voted in favor of UNGA resolutions expressing outrage at the use of cluster munitions in Syria, most recently in December 2016.[12] As a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council, it also voted in favor of a June 2015 resolution expressing concern at evidence of cluster munition use in Darfur, Sudan.[13]

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

Interpretative issues

Spain’s implementing legislation prohibits the use, development, production, acquisition in any way, stockpile, conservation, transfer, or exportation, directly or indirectly of antipersonnel mines, cluster munitions, explosive bomblets, and weapons of similar effect.[14] It defines development as “any activity consistent with the creation of new cluster munitions or the modification of preexisting cluster munitions.”[15] The amended law specifically prohibits assisting, encouraging, or inducing anyone to participate in any activity prohibited by the convention or the implementation legislation.[16] The law also explicitly prohibits the financing of cluster munition production.[17]

The law establishes that Spain’s military cooperation and participation in military operations—by the state, its military personnel, or its nationals—with states not party to the Convention on Cluster Munitions that use cluster munitions is not prohibited.[18] This interoperability language and the prohibition on investment in cluster munition producers were subject to parliamentary debate in both houses.

After a review by the foreign affairs committee of the Chamber of Deputies, Spain approved an amendment to the draft amended law’s prohibition on advertising or publicizing cluster munitions by adding the word “financing” to prohibit financial investment in activities prohibited by legislation. It was also amended to ensure Spain implements the positive obligations of Article 21(2) of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, which require it to work for universalization of the convention and discourage non-signatories from using cluster munitions.

According to a May 2017 report by PAX, Spanish financial institution Banco de Sabadell continues to invest in the production of cluster munitions despite national legislation prohibiting such investment.[19]

Use, production, and transfer

Spain has stated that it has never used cluster munitions. It produced, exported, and imported cluster munitions prior to adopting the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

In its initial Article 7 report provided in 2011, Spain listed the company Instalaza SA in Zaragoza as having manufactured two types of 120mm mortar projectiles containing submunitions: the ESPIN-21 and MAT-120. Spain has reported that Instalaza and another company, Fabricaciones Extremeñas (FAEX), have closed down their manufacturing processes for cluster munitions.[20] In 2011, Instalaza filed a claim with the government for damages and profits lost from the cancellations of sales to seven countries following the government’s 2008 decision to ban cluster munitions.[21] In 2014, media reported that Spain’s High Court had rejected Instalaza’s €59.9 million compensation claim.[22] Instalaza is not known to have appealed the decision or taken any further action.

A third company Explosvos Alaveses SA (EXPAL) is not mentioned in Spain’s Article 7 reports, but in a letter to the Monitor, Spain confirmed the company produced the BME-330B/AP cluster bomb, which contains eight SAP submunitions and 20 SNA submunitions.[23] According to a standard reference work, EXPAL produced two other variants of BME cluster bombs. The BME-330AT cluster bomb contained 512 SAC-1 submunitions and four MAC-2 antivehicle mines.[24] The BME-330C (multipurpose) cluster bomb contained 180 submunitions of three different types: the CP fragmentation (antipersonnel), the CH shaped charge (anti-armor), and the SNA area-denial submunitions.[25]

Spain’s legislation requires that these companies provide the Minister of Defence with information on the types, quantities, and lot numbers for each type of cluster munition produced or possessed, as well as information on the conversion or decommissioning of production facilities.[26]

In the past, Spain imported two variants of the Rockeye cluster bomb, the CBU-99B and CBU-100, from the United States (US).[27]

In April 2011 in Libya, government forces of Muammar Gaddafi used MAT-120 cluster munitions manufactured by Instalaza in 2007.[28] In June 2011, Spain condemned this use of cluster munitions in Libya and said it transferred MAT-120 cluster munitions to Libya in 2006 and 2008, prior to the adoption of the convention and Spain’s moratorium.[29]

Few details are known on other past Spanish exports of cluster munitions. Peru has reported a stockpile of 90 BME-330 cluster bombs and 16,200 submunitions.[30]

Stockpiling

In total, Spain once stockpiled 6,857 cluster munitions and 293,652 submunitions, as shown by the following table.

Cluster munitions once stockpiled by Spain[31]

Type

Quantity

Cluster munitions

Submunitions

MAT-120 120mm mortar projectiles

3,947

99,897

 

ESPIN-21 120mm mortar projectiles

1,950

40,950

BME-330 B/AP bombs

385

10,780

CBU-100 and CBU-99 Rockeye bombs

575

142,025

Total

6,857

293,652

 

Stockpile destruction

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

Spain’s implementing legislation for the convention specifies the obligation to destroy all cluster munition stocks by the convention’s deadline and in accordance with public health and environmental regulations, and to report on the destruction in its annual Article 7 reports.[32]

Spain was the first signatory to the Convention on Cluster Munitions to report the completion of the destruction of its stockpile in March 2009, but three years later it declared additional cluster munitions that it has committed to destroy by the convention’s August 2018 deadline.[33]

In its initial Article 7 report provided in 2011, Spain reported that its armed forces destroyed a stockpile of 4,762 cluster munitions and 232,647 submunitions between December 2008 and March 2009.[34] The total cost of the destruction was €4.9 million (US$6.8 million).[35]

In its Article 7 report provided in 2012, Spain reported another 3,600 MAT-120 cluster munitions and 75,598 submunitions. It explained that when the government established a moratorium on cluster munitions on 11 July 2008, Instalaza SA was manufacturing cluster munitions and “automatically stopped” the production cycle mid-process leaving the cluster munitions, submunitions, and their components as they were being assembled.[36]

In April 2017, Spain reported a revised stockpile total of 2,095 MAT-120 cluster munitions and 61,005 submunitions.[37] A review of the stocks found that only 21 projectiles were “functional” and the rest were components that, if assembled, would total 2,095 cluster munitions.

During 2016, Spain destroyed 669 MAT-120 projectiles and 14,040 submunitions. In total, it destroyed 5,431 cluster munitions and 246,687 submunitions by the end of 2016.

Spain’s implementing legislation for the convention states that costs for the destruction of cluster munitions will be covered by the owner of the cluster munitions.[38]

Retention

In April 2017, Spain reported the retention of 115 cluster munitions and 2,888 submunitions for training and research purposes, as listed in the following table.

Cluster munitions retained by Spain (as of 31 December 2016)[39]

Type

Quantity

Cluster munitions

Submunitions

MAT-120

110

2,310

ESPIN-21

0

0

CBU-100

2

494

BME-330 B/AP

3

84

Total

115

2,888

 

The cluster munitions reported by Spain in April 2017 are the lowest number retained to date and represent 16% of the original total of 711 cluster munitions and 16,562 submunitions that Spain initially reported it would retain in 2011.[40]

Spain has progressively reduced the number of cluster munitions retained for training since 2011 and has reported the destruction of these cluster munitions. Spain used 176 MAT-120 cluster munitions containing 3,696 submunitions and one ESPIN-21 cluster munition containing 21 submunitions in 2016.[41] The cluster munitions were used to train national and foreign clearance experts at the International Demining Training Centre in Madrid.[42]

Spain’s implementing legislation allows it to retain cluster munitions for training purposes, but states that the number should not exceed the minimum quantity absolutely necessary.[43] It also requires the government to report the quantity retained to parliament.

Foreign stockpiling

A United States (US) diplomatic cable dated 26 November 2008 and released by Wikileaks in 2011, indicated that US military forces store cluster munitions in Spain.[44]

Spain has not disclosed if the US still stockpiles cluster munitions in Spain. Since 2011, Spain has reported that it has informed states not party that it cooperates with in joint military operations of its obligations and adherence to international agreements on both cluster munitions and landmines, including its commitment to respect the prohibition on storing prohibited weapons on territory under its jurisdiction and control.[45]



[1] “Law Banning Antipersonnel Landmines as well as those Arms with Similar Effects,” Law 33/1998, Official Journal of the State (Boletin Oficial del Estado), No. 239, 6 October 1998; Official State Bulletin, No. 180, 29 July 2015. See, ICBL-CMC,  “Spain: Cluster Munition Monitor: Ban profile,” updated 12 August 2015, for a detailed review of the legislation and its process; and also ICBL, Landmine Monitor Report 2000: Toward a Mine-Free World (Human Rights Watch: New York, 2000).

[2] Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 7 Report, Form A, 27 January 2011. Spain amended paragraphs one and two of Article 566 of Organic Law (Ley Orgánica) 2/2000 of its Penal Code to include cluster munitions, landmines, and chemical and biological weapons. The amendment institutes penal sanctions of 5–10 years for violations of the prohibitions on the use, development, production, sale, stockpiling, and transfer of cluster munitions and penal sanctions of 3–5 years for violations of the prohibition on assistance with these banned activities. See, Organic Law 5/2010 of 22 June 2010, amending Organic Law 10/1995 of 23 November 1995, Penal Code.

[3]España dejará de fabricar bombas de racimo” (“Spain will cease to manufacture cluster bombs”), El País, 8 July 2008.

[5] The report submitted on 27 January 2011 covered the period from 1 August 2010 to 27 January 2011, while calendar years are covered by the reports provided on 31 March 2012, 30 April 2013, 5 June 2014, 1 April 2015, 28 April 2016, and 30 April 2017.

[6] For details on Spain’s cluster munition policy and practice through early 2009, see Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Landmine Action, Banning Cluster Munitions: Government Policy and Practice (Ottawa: Mines Action Canada, May 2009), pp. 156–161.

[7]Implementation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions,” UNGA Resolution 71/45, 5 December 2016.

[8]Implementation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions,” UNGA Resolution 70/54, 7 December 2015.

[9] Statement of Spain, Convention on Cluster Munitions Fifth Meeting of States Parties, San Jose, September 2014; and statement of Spain, Convention on Cluster Munitions First Review Conference, Dubrovnik, 8 September 2015.

[10] Statement of Spain, UNGA First Committee on Disarmament and International Security, New York, 24 October 2016.

[11] See, Cluster Munition Monitor 2011 (Ottawa: Mines Action Canada, 2011).

[12]Situation of human rights in the Syrian Arab Republic,” UNGA Resolution 71/203, 19 December 2016. Spain voted in favor of similar resolutions in 2013–2015.

[14] The transfer of antipersonnel mines and cluster munitions is only permitted when required for destruction purposes. Article 2, Section 2 of the Amendment to Law 33/1998.

[15] HRW and Harvard Law School International Human Rights Clinic, “Staying Strong: Key Components and Positive Precedent for Convention on Cluster Munitions Legislation,” 3 September 2014, p. 11.

[16] Article 2, Section 1 of the Amendment to Law 33/1998. “Proyecto de Ley de modificación de la Ley 33/1998, de 5 de octubre de prohibición total de minas antipersonal y armas de efecto similar” (“Bill amending Law 33/1998, of 5 October, on a total prohibition of antipersonnel mines and similar arms”), 121-000061, Boletin Oficial del Estado (Official Journal of the State), Congreso de los Diputados (Congress of Deputies), 23 June 2015. Unofficial translation by the Monitor.

[18] Article 2, Section 3 of the Amendment to Law 33/1998.

[19] PAX, Worldwide investment in Cluster Munitions: a shared responsibility, June 2016 update (Utrecht, May 2017), p. 21. The report lists Banco de Sabadell as holding investments in Orbital ATK, a company known to produce cluster munitions.

[20] Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 7 Reports, Form E, 1 April 2015; 5 June 2014; 30 April 2013; and 31 March 2012.

[21] Javier Noriega, “Instalaza pide 40 millones por la prohibición de las bombas de racimo” (“Instalaza claims 40 million compensation for the ban on cluster bombs”), Cinco Días, 9 May 2011. Average exchange rate for 2009: €1=US$1.3935. US Federal Reserve, “List of Exchange Rates (Annual),” 6 January 2011.

[23] Letter from Miguel Ángel Moratinos, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, Annex II, 12 March 2009. For more details, see HRW and Landmine Action, Banning Cluster Munitions: Government Policy and Practice (Ottawa: Mines Action Canada, May 2009), pp. 159–160.

[24] Robert Hewson, ed., Jane’s Air-Launched Weapons, Issue 44 (Surrey, UK: Jane’s Information Group Limited, 2004), p. 455.

[25] Ibid., p. 456.

[26] Article 3, Section 2 of the Amendment to Law 33/1998.

[27] Ministry of Defence Press release, “Tres meses antes del compromiso de la ministra de la Defensa España se situa a la cabeza de paises en eliminar todo su arsenal de bombas de racimo” (“Three months ahead of the commitment of the Ministry of Defence, Spain is at the head of countries in eliminating all of its arsenals of cluster bombs”), 18 March 2009; “Spain to destroy all cluster bombs by June 2009,” Agence France-Presse/Expatica, 3 December 2008; and letter from Miguel Ángel Moratinos, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, 12 March 2009.

[28] C.J. Chivers, “Qaddafi Troops Fire Cluster Bombs Into Civilian Areas,” The New York Times, 15 April 2011; and HRW Press release, “Libya: Cluster Munition Strike in Misrata,” 15 April 2011.

[29] Spain confirmed that a total of 1,055 MAT-120 (containing 22,155 submunitions) were transferred to Libya in 2006 and 2008. Five were transferred in October 2006 and another 1,050 in March 2008. Statement of Spain, Convention on Cluster Munitions Intersessional Meetings, Geneva, 29 June 2011. Spain confirmed information provided to The New York Times by the Deputy Director General for Foreign Trade of Defense Materials and Dual-Use Goods, Ramon Muro Martinez. C.J. Chivers, “Following Up, Part 2. Down the Rabbit Hole: Arms Exports and Qaddafi’s Cluster Bombs,” The New York Times – At War Blog, 22 June 2011.

[31] Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 7 Reports, Form B, 30 April 2017; 31 March 2012; and 27 January 2011.

[32] Article 3, Section 1 of the Amendment to Law 33/1998.

[33] Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 7 Reports, Form B, 28 April 2016; 1 April 2015; 5 June 2014; and 30 April 2013; and statement of Spain, Convention on Cluster Munitions Fourth Meeting of States Parties, Lusaka, 11 September 2013.

[34] 1,950 ESPIN-21 120mm mortar bombs (containing 40,950 submunitions); 1,852 MAT-120 120mm mortar bombs (containing 38,892 submunitions); 575 CBU-100 and CBU-99 Rockeye bombs (containing 142,025 submunitions); and 385 BME-330 B/AP bombs (containing 10,780 submunitions). Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 7 Reports, Form B, 31 March 2012, and 27 January 2011. In March 2009, Spain reported a total stockpile of 5,587 cluster munitions containing 251,836 submunitions as of December 2008.

[35] Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 7 Report, Form B, 31 March 2012; and “Spain to destroy all cluster bombs by June 2009,” Agence France-Presse/Expatica, 3 December 2008.

[36] Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 7 Reports, Form B, 30 April 2013; and 31 March 2012.

[37] Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 7 Report, Form B, 30 April 2017.

[38] Article 7, Section 2 of the Amendment to Law 33/1998.

[39] Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 7 Report, Form C, 30 April 2017.

[40] Ibid., 27 January 2011.

[41] Ibid., 30 April 2017.

[42] Statement of Spain, Convention on Cluster Munitions Second Meeting of States Parties, 14 September 2011.

[43] Article 5 of the Amendment to Law 33/1998.

[44] The cable states: “Unlike other potential signatory states (Germany, Japan, UK) where U.S. military forces store cluster munitions, Italy, Spain, and Qatar have not yet approached the Department or DoD [Department of Defense] on this issue.” “Demarche to Italy, Spain, and Qatar Regarding Convention on Cluster Munitions,” US Department of State cable 08STATE125632 dated 26 November 2008, released by Wikileaks on 1 September 2011.

[45] Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 7 Report, Form A, 27 January 2011. It has repeated this information in subsequent Article 7 reports.