Suriname
Cluster Munition Ban Policy
Summary: Non-signatory Suriname has long expressed its intent to join the convention, but the current status of its accession process is not known. It voted in favor of a 2016 UN General Assembly (UNGA) resolution supporting universalization of the Convention on Cluster Munitions. Suriname last participated in a meeting of the convention in 2013. It states that it has not used, produced, or stockpiled cluster munitions.
Policy
The Republic of Suriname has not yet acceded to the Convention on Cluster Munitions.
Suriname has expressed interest in joining the convention, but the current status of the accession process is not known. Previously, in April 2013, Suriname announced that it had started the accession process with the delivery to the executive board of ministers of the package of draft ratification legislation and an explanatory memorandum for approval.[1]
Since 2009, Suriname has committed to join the convention at some point in the near future.[2] In September 2012, Suriname informed States Parties that Ministry of Defense and Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials frequently meet to discuss joining the convention.[3] On 29 March 2017, Suriname ratified the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
Suriname took part in one meeting of the Oslo Process that created the convention (Vienna in December 2007), but did not participate in the Dublin negotiations or the Convention on Cluster Munitions Signing Conference in Oslo in December 2008. Suriname attended a regional conference on cluster munitions in Santiago, Chile in September 2009.
Suriname had participated as an observer in two Meetings of States Parties of the convention, in 2011 and 2012, but none since then. It attended one round of the convention’s intersessional meetings in Geneva in April 2013.
Suriname voted in favor of the UNGA resolutions on the Convention on Cluster Munitions in 2015 and 2016, which urge states outside the convention to “join as soon as possible.”[4]
Suriname is party to the Mine Ban Treaty. It is not party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons.
Use, production, transfer, and stockpiling
Suriname stated in April 2013 that it has not produced, used, or stockpiled cluster munitions.[5]
[1] Statement of Suriname, Convention on Cluster Munitions Intersessional Meetings, Geneva, 16 April 2013.
[2] CMC, “Update on the Fourth Regional Conference for Latin America and the Caribbean on Cluster Munitions, Santiago, Chile, 14–15 September 2009,” 14 September 2009.
[3] Statement of Suriname, Convention on Cluster Munitions Third Meeting of States Parties, Oslo, 12 September 2012.
[4] “Implementation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions,” UNGA Resolution 71/45, 5 December 2016; and “Implementation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions,” UNGA Resolution 70/54, 7 December 2015.
[5] Statement of Suriname, Convention on Cluster Munitions Intersessional Meetings, Geneva, 16 April 2013.
Mine Ban Policy
The Republic of Suriname signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 4 December 1997 and ratified it on 23 May 2002, becoming a State Party on 1 November 2002. Suriname imported but never produced or exported antipersonnel mines. An estimated 1,000 mines were planted during a 1986–1992 internal conflict. It has not enacted new legislation specifically to implement the Mine Ban Treaty. Suriname submitted its sixth Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 report on 30 April 2008 but has not submitted subsequent annual reports.
Suriname destroyed its stockpile of 146 antipersonnel mines on 25 February 2004, and retained 150 antipersonnel mines for training purposes. Suriname noted in its Article 7 report for 2007 that it did not have any antipersonnel mines retained.
Suriname did not attend any Mine Ban Treaty meetings in 2010 or the first half of 2011.
Suriname is not party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons.
Mine clearance was completed on 4 April 2005, well in advance of Suriname’s 1 November 2012 mine clearance deadline. Suriname is affected by explosive remnants of war, primarily abandoned explosive ordnance.