Cape Verde
Cluster Munition Ban Policy
Summary: State Party Cape Verde ratified the convention on 19 October 2010. It has attended a couple of the convention’s meetings, but not since 2012. Cape Verde voted in favor of a key United Nations (UN) resolution promoting implementation of the convention in December 2017.
Cape Verde has not provided its initial transparency report for the convention, originally due in 2011, which is required to formally confirm it has not used, produced, transferred, or stockpiled cluster munitions.
Policy
The Republic of Cape Verde signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 3 December 2008, ratified on 19 October 2010, and the convention entered into force for the country on 1 April 2011.
It is not known if Cape Verde will undertake national implementation measures such as legislation to implement and enforce the provisions of the convention.[1]
As of 25 June 2018, Cape Verde still has not provided its initial Article 7 transparency report for the Convention on Cluster Munitions, which was originally due 28 October 2011.
Cape Verde did not participate in any meetings of the Oslo Process that created the convention before it signed in December 2008.
Cape Verde participated in the convention’s Meetings of States Parties in 2011 and 2012. It has not attended a meeting of the convention since 2012.
In December 2017, Cape Verde voted in favor of a key UN General Assembly (UNGA) resolution promoting the implementation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions.[2]
Cape Verde has also voted in favor of UNGA resolution expressing outrage at the use of cluster munitions in Syria, most recently in December 2017.[3]
Cape Verde has not elaborated its views on several important issues relating to the convention’s interpretation and implementation, such as the prohibition on transit and foreign stockpiling of cluster munitions on the territory of States Parties, the prohibition on assistance with prohibited acts in joint military operations, and the prohibition on investment in cluster munition production.
Cape Verde is a State Party to the Mine Ban Treaty. It is also party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons.
Use, production, transfer, and stockpiling
Cape Verde is not known to have ever used, produced, transferred, or stockpiled cluster munitions.
[1] The National Assembly adopted Resolution No. 137/VII/2010 in June 2010, approving ratification of the convention. After signature by the president it was published in the official gazette on 26 July 2010. See Cluster Munition Monitor 2011, p. 77.
[2] “Implementation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions,” UNGA Resolution 72/54, 4 December 2017. Cape Verde voted in favor of previous UNGA resolutions supporting the convention in 2015 and 2016.
[3] “Situation of human rights in the Syrian Arab Republic,” UNGA Resolution 72/191, 19 December 2017.
Mine Ban Policy
The Republic of Cape Verde signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 4 December 1997 and ratified it on 14 May 2001, becoming a State Party on 1 November 2001. Cape Verde has never used, produced, or exported antipersonnel mines. Legislation to enforce the antipersonnel mine prohibition domestically has not been enacted. Cape Verde submitted its initial Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 report on 31 March 2009, but has not submitted annual reports since.
As part of a NATO training operation, Latvian explosive ordnance disposal troops destroyed Cape Verde’s stockpile of 1,471 antipersonnel mines in June 2006. Cape Verde’s deadline for destruction of stockpiled antipersonnel mines was 1 November 2005. Cape Verde retained 120 mines for training purposes.[1] It has not subsequently reported on the status of these mines.
Cape Verde did not attend the Tenth Meeting of States Parties in Geneva in November–December 2010, but it attended the Mine Ban Treaty intersessional Standing Committee meetings in June 2011.
Cape Verde is party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) and its Amended Protocol II on landmines, but not CCW Protocol V on explosive remnants of war.