Summary: State Party Burkina Faso was among the first 30 ratifications to trigger the convention’s entry into force on 1 August 2010. In 2015, Burkina Faso confirmed it is preparing draft implementing legislation for the convention. Burkina Faso has participated in all of the convention’s Meetings of States Parties and the First Review Conference in September 2015. It voted in favor of a UN resolution on the convention in December 2015. In its initial transparency report for the convention provided in 2011, Burkina Faso confirmed that it has never used, produced, or transferred cluster munitions and possesses no stocks of the weapons, including for training or research purposes.

Policy

Burkina Fasosigned the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 3 December 2008 and ratified on 16 February 2010. It was among the first 30 ratifications to trigger the convention’s entry into force on 1 August 2010.

At the First Review Conference of the convention in September 2015, Burkina Faso confirmed to States Parties that it is in the process of adopting national legislation to enforce its implementation of the convention’s provisions.[1] Burkina Faso has expressed its intent to enact implementing legislation since 2011, but the government has not introduced draft legislation for parliamentary approval.[2] The National Commission to Combat the Proliferation of Small Arms (Commission Nationale de Lutte contre la Prolifération des Armes Légères) has facilitated consultations to collect the views of relevant national actors on the draft legislation.[3]

Burkina Faso submitted its initial Article 7 transparency report for the Convention on Cluster Munitions in January 2011 and an annual updated report in May 2013.[4] As of 29 June 2016, it had not submitted any more annual updates due by 30 April each year.

Burkina Faso participated in the Oslo Process that created the Convention on Cluster Munitions, including the negotiations in Dublin in May 2008.[5]

Burkina Faso has participated in every Meeting of States Parties of the convention, as well as the First Review Conference and an intersessional meeting in Geneva in 2013. It has attended regional workshops on the convention, most recently in Lomé, Togo in May 2013.

On 7 December 2015, Burkina Faso voted in favor of a UN General Assembly (UNGA) resolution on the Convention on Cluster Munitions, which urges states outside the convention to “join as soon as possible.”[6]

At the Fifth Meeting of States Parties in September 2014, Burkina Faso urged states to adopt national implementation measures for the convention to ensure “legal, technical, and operational mechanisms” are in place to address the threat of cluster munitions.[7]

Burkina Faso has voted in favor of UNGA resolutions condemning the use of cluster munitions in Syria, most recently in December 2015.[8]

In 2009, the Minister of Foreign Affairs informed the Monitor that Burkina Faso considers that the transit of cluster munitions by states not party through the territory of States Parties is prohibited.[9] Burkina Faso has not elaborated its views yet on other issues relating to the convention’s interpretation or implementation, such as the prohibition on assistance with prohibited acts during joint military operations with states not party, the prohibition on foreign stockpiling, and the prohibition on investment in cluster munition production.

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

Use, production, transfer, and stockpiling

Burkina Faso has stated that it has never used, produced, or stockpiled cluster munitions.[10] Burkina Faso has reported that it has no cluster munitions, including for training or research purposes.[11]