Liberia
Cluster Munition Ban Policy
Summary: Signatory Liberia introduced ratification legislation into parliament in July 2015 that still has not been approved. It has participated in many of the convention’s meetings, most recently in 2017, and voted in favor of a key United Nations (UN) resolution on the convention in December 2017. Liberia is not known to have used, produced, or transferred cluster munitions and stated in 2011 that it has never stockpiled them.
Policy
The Republic of Liberia signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 3 December 2008.
On several occasions over the past decade, Liberia has expressed its intent to ratify the convention in the near future, most recently at the convention’s Seventh Meeting of States Parties in September 2017. At the meeting, Liberia informed States Parties that “the Ministry of Foreign Affairs…has been involved in follow-up meetings with the legislature” on the ratification of the convention. Liberia also stated that the executive branch is working to ensure that the convention is ratified “before this administration leaves office in January of 2018.”[1]
Yet, Liberian government officials acknowledge the ratification process lacks momentum.[2] The government introduced draft legislation approving Liberia’s ratification of the convention on 22 July 2015 that the parliament has yet to adopt.[3] Previously, in 2011–2013, Liberia conducted stakeholder consultations on the matter of its ratification of the convention.[4]
Liberia participated in the Oslo Process that produced the Convention on Cluster Munitions.[5]
Liberia has attended many of the convention’s Meetings of States Parties, most recently in 2017. It has participated in regional workshops on the convention, most recently in Kampala, Uganda in May 2017.[6]
In December 2017, Liberia voted in favor of a UN General Assembly (UNGA) resolution that urges states outside the Convention on Cluster Munitions to “join as soon as possible.”[7] It voted in favor of previous UNGA resolutions promoting implementation and universalization of the convention in 2015 and 2016.
Liberia has voted in favor of UNGA resolutions expressing outrage at the use of cluster munitions in Syria, most recently in December 2017.[8]
Liberia is a State Party to the Mine Ban Treaty. It is also party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons.
Use, production, transfer, and stockpiling
Liberia is not known to have used, produced, or transferred cluster munitions. In September 2011, Liberia stated that it “did not ever stockpile” cluster munitions.[9]
[1] Statement of Liberia, Convention on Cluster Munitions Seventh Meeting of States Parties, Geneva, 4 September 2017. Official audio recording, UN Digital Recordings Portal.
[2] ICBL-CMC meeting with Stephen Zargo, Senator and Chairman of the State Committee on Defense and Security, and Michael Yorwah, Chairman of the Liberian Action Network on Small Arms, Liberia, Geneva, 24 August 2016.
[3] Email from Teresa Dybeck, Programme Manager, Parliamentary Forum on Small Arms and Light Weapons, 27 July 2015.
[4] In May 2013, it stated that a committee working on the ratification of the convention had been holding consultations. Statement of Liberia, Lomé Regional Seminar on the Universalization of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, Lomé, Togo, 22 May 2013. In September 2011, Liberia stated that the government has initiated consultations with relevant stakeholders on ratification of the convention. Statement of Liberia, Convention on Cluster Munitions Second Meeting of States Parties, Beirut, 14 September 2011.
[5] For details on Liberia’s policyand practice regarding cluster munitions through early 2009, see Human Rights Watch and Landmine Action, Banning Cluster Munitions: Government Policy and Practice (Ottawa: Mines Action Canada, May 2009), p. 108.
[6] Convention on Cluster Munitions Ratification Seminar, Kampala, 29–30 May 2017.
[7] “Implementation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions,” UNGA Resolution 72/54, 4 December 2017.
[8] “Situation of human rights in the Syrian Arab Republic,” UNGA Resolution 72/191, 19 December 2017. Liberia voted in favor of similar resolutions in 2013–2016.
[9] Statement of Liberia, Convention on Cluster Munitions Third Meeting of States Parties, Oslo, 12 September 2013.
Mine Ban Policy
The Republic of Liberia acceded to the Mine Ban Treaty on 23 December 1999, becoming a State Party on 1 June 2000. Liberia has never produced, imported, exported, or stockpiled antipersonnel mines, including for training purposes. Liberia has not enacted new legislation specifically to implement the Mine Ban Treaty. Liberia submitted its initial Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 report nearly four years late, on 20 October 2004, but has not submitted subsequent reports.
Liberia did not attend any Mine Ban Treaty meetings in 2010 or the first half of 2011.
Liberia is party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons and its Amended Protocol II on landmines and Protocol V on explosive remnants of war.
Mines were used during the country’s first civil war (1989–1997) by non-state armed groups. Liberia has no known mined areas but is affected by explosive remnants of war, the result of 14 years of internal and regional warfare.