Summary: State Party Benin ratified the convention in July 2017 and the convention took effect for the country on 1 January 2018. The status of Benin’s national implementation measures is not yet known. Benin has participated in several meetings of the convention and voted in favor of a key UN resolution on the convention in December 2017. Benin states that it never used, produced, transferred, or stockpiled cluster munitions.

Policy

The Convention on Cluster Munitions entered into force for the Republic of Benin on 1 January 2018.

Benin signed the convention on 3 December 2008 and Benin’s head of state, President Patrice Talon, signed the country’s instrument of ratification for the convention on 21 June 2017.[1] It ratified on 10 July 2017.[2]

The status of Benin’s national implementation measures is not yet known. In 2012, an official said that once Benin ratifies, the provisions of the Convention on Cluster Munitions may be enforced by amending existing implementation legislation for the Mine Ban Treaty.[3]

As of 20 July 2018, Benin has not delivered its initial Article 7 transparency report for the convention, which was due on 30 June 2018.[4]

Benin participated in the Oslo Process that created the Convention on Cluster Munitions and was a strong advocate for a comprehensive ban.[5]

At the Seventh Meeting of States Parties in September 2017, Benin reiterated its commitment to the convention and stated that its “careful and harmonious application…will help promote peace around the world and this is something that is absolutely essential for achieving sustainable and inclusive development.”[6] Benin encouraged all states that have not yet done so to “speed up the process of accessions and ratification.”[7]

Benin has participated in all the convention’s formal meetings of States Parties, except in 2011 and 2016, and the First Review Conference in 2015. It attended the convention’s intersessional meetings in 2011–2014 and has participated in several regional workshops on the convention.

Benin has voted in favor of every UN General Assembly (UNGA) resolution supporting implementation and universalization of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, most recently in December 2017.[8]

Benin has voted in favor of UNGA resolutions expressing outrage at the use of cluster munitions in Syria, most recently in December 2016.[9]

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

Use, production, transfer, and stockpiling

Benin has stated several times that it has never used, produced, or stockpiled cluster munitions, is not a transit country, and has no intention to acquire cluster munitions.[10] Benin must submit a transparency report for the convention to formally confirm its cluster munition-free status.