Togo

Cluster Munition Ban Policy

Last updated: 05 July 2017

Summary: State Party Togo ratified the convention on 22 June 2012 and amended its Penal Code in November 2015 to criminalize activities prohibited by the convention. Togo participated in the convention’s annual Meetings of States Parties in 2013–2015 and hosted a regional seminar on the convention in May 2013. Togo states that it has never used, produced, transferred, or stockpiled cluster munitions, but must formally confirm its cluster munition-free status by submitting a transparency report for the convention.

Policy

The Togolese Republic signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 3 December 2008, ratified on 22 June 2012, and the convention entered into force for the country on 1 December 2012.

Togo amended its Penal Code in November 2015 to provide penal and fiscal sanctions for any use, production, transfer, and stockpiling of cluster munitions in accordance with the convention.[1] It is unclear if additional legislative measures are planned.

As of 30 June 2017, Togo has not provided its initial Article 7 transparency report for the Convention on Cluster Munitions, which was originally due by 29 May 2013.

Togo participated in several meetings of the Oslo Process that created the Convention on Cluster Munitions, including the formal negotiations in Dublin in May 2008.[2]

Togo has participated in every Meeting of States Parties of the convention except the Sixth Meeting of States Parties in Geneva in September 2016. It did not attend the convention’s First Review Conference in Dubrovnik, Croatia, in September 2015. It participated in the convention’s intersessional meetings in Geneva in 2012–2015. Togo hosted a regional seminar on the convention in Lomé on 22–23 May 2013 and has attended other regional meetings on cluster munitions.[3]

In December 2016, Togo voted in favor of a key UN General Assembly (UNGA) resolution promoting implementation of the convention.[4]

Togo has voted for UNGA resolutions expressing outrage at the use of cluster munitions in Syria, most recently in December 2016.[5] It voted in favor of a Human Rights Council resolution on 24 March 2017 that condemns the use of cluster munitions in Syria.[6]

In 2013, Togo elaborated its views on the matter of “interoperability,” or assistance in joint military operations with states not party that might use cluster munitions, stating that “apart from their obligations not to produce cluster munitions under the convention, States Parties have an obligation never to use cluster munitions in any circumstances…it is forbidden for any state to assist, encourage, or induce anyone to engage in any activity inconsistent with the provisions of the convention.”[7]

Togo has not commented on other important issues for the interpretation and implementation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, such as the prohibition on transit and foreign stockpiling of cluster munitions and the prohibition on investment in cluster munition production.

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

Use, production, transfer, and stockpiling

Togo states that it has never used, produced, transferred, or stockpiled cluster munitions.[8] To formally confirm its cluster munition-free status Togo must submit its Article 7 transparency report for the convention.



[1] It also prohibits assisting, encouraging, or inciting others to violate the ban provisions. Article 577 provides for penal sanctions of 10–20 years imprisonment and a fine of five–100 million CFA. The Penal Code uses the same definition of a cluster munition as provided for in the Convention on Cluster Munitions. The prohibitions apply during international and non-international armed conflicts. According to Articles 560–579 the manufacture and trafficking of cluster munitions is punishable under the amended Penal Code. CEJUS, “Passage en revue du nouveau code pénal togolais: qu'est-ce qui a changé?” (“Review the new penal code of Togo: what has changed?”), 24 November 2015.

[2] For details on Togo’s cluster munition policy and practice up to early 2009, see Human Rights Watch and Landmine Action, Banning Cluster Munitions: Government Policy and Practice (Ottawa: Mines Action Canada, May 2009), pp. 170–171.

[3] Non-signatories Eritrea, Gabon, Libya, Morocco, and South Sudan attended, in addition to signatories and States Parties from the region. Point six of the Lomé Strategy established an African Working Committee on universalization of the convention to be spearheaded initially by Togo together with Ghana and Zambia. Statement of Togo, Convention on Cluster Munitions Fourth Meeting of States Parties, Lusaka, 10 September 2013.

[4]Implementation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions,” UNGA Resolution 71/45, 5 December 2016. Togo voted in favor of a similar resolution in 2015. “Implementation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions,” UNGA Resolution 70/54, 7 December 2015.

[5]Situation of human rights in the Syrian Arab Republic,” UNGA Resolution 71/203, 19 December 2016.

[6]The human rights situation in the Syrian Arab Republic,” Human Rights Council Resolution 34/26, 24 March 2017; “The human rights situation in the Syrian Arab Republic,” HRC Resolution 32/25, 1 July 2016; and “The human rights situation in the Syrian Arab Republic,” HRC Resolution 33/23, 30 September 2016.

[7] Statement by Prof. Charles Kondi Agba, Minister of Health and Interim Minister of State and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, Lomé Regional Seminar on the Universalization of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, Lomé, Togo, 22 May 2013.

[8] Statement of Togo, Convention on Cluster Munitions Fourth Meeting of States Parties, Lusaka, 10 September 2013; and statement of Togo, Convention on Cluster Munitions First Meeting of States Parties, Vientiane, 10 November 2010. Notes by the CMC.