Summary: Signatory São Tomé e Príncipe last commented in 2010 on its efforts to ratify the convention, which are not believed to have proceeded since then. São Tomé e Príncipe has participated in meetings of the convention, most recently in 2013. São Tomé e Príncipe states that it has never used cluster munitions and it is not known to have produced, transferred, or stockpiled them.

Policy

The Democratic Republic of São Tomé e Príncipe signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 3 December 2008.

The status of São Tomé e Príncipe’s ratification of the convention is not known, as government officials last provided an update on its ratification efforts in November 2010.[1]

During the Oslo Process, São Tomé e Príncipe participated in the formal negotiations of the Convention on Cluster Munitions in Dublin in May 2008, where it supported a comprehensive ban without exceptions.[2]

São Tomé e Príncipe participated in the convention’s Meetings of States Parties in 2010 and 2012–2013, but has not attended any international meetings of the convention since then. It attended regional workshops on the convention in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in August 2016 and in Kampala, Uganda, in May 2017.[3]

In December 2016, São Tomé e Príncipe was absent from the vote on a UN General Assembly (UNGA) resolution that calls on states outside the Convention on Cluster Munitions to “join as soon as possible.”[4] It also did not vote on the first UNGA resolution on the convention in December 2016.[5]

São Tomé e Príncipe is a State Party to the Mine Ban Treaty. It is not party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons.

Use, production, transfer, and stockpiling

São Tomé e Príncipe has stated that it has never used cluster munitions.[6] It is not known to have ever produced, transferred, or stockpiled the weapons.