Summary:Non-signatory Oman has never elaborated its views on cluster munitions or its position on acceding to the convention.Oman has participated as an observer in several meetings of the convention, most recently in 2016. It abstained from voting on a key United Nations (UN) resolution on the convention in December 2017.

Oman is not known to have produced or exported cluster munitions. It has imported cluster munitions and likely possesses a stockpile, but there is no evidence or allegations that Oman has used cluster munitions.

Policy

The Sultanate of Oman has not acceded to the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

Oman has never commented publicly on its views on cluster munitions or position on acceding to the convention.[1] Government officials said in 2016 that Oman was studying the convention, but did not indicate when that process would conclude.[2]

Oman participated in several meetings of the Oslo Process, including the formal negotiations in Dublin in May 2008 as an observer, but it did not sign the convention in December 2008.[3]

Oman has participated as an observer in several meetings of the convention, most recently the Sixth Meeting of States Parties in September 2016.[4]

In December 2017, Oman abstained from voting on a UN General Assembly (UNGA) resolution, which urges states outside the Convention on Cluster Munitions to “join as soon as possible.”[5] It has not explained why it abstained from this vote or the votes on the previous UNGA resolutions promoting the convention in 2015 and 2016.

Oman has previously voted in favor of UNGA resolutions expressing outrage at the use of cluster munitions in Syria.[6]

Oman is a State Party to the Mine Ban Treaty. It is not party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons.

Use, production, transfer, and stockpiling

Oman is not known to have used, produced, or exported cluster munitions.

Oman imported and possesses a stockpile of cluster munitions. In 2002, the United States (US) announced the sale of 50 CBU-97/105 Sensor Fuzed Weapons to Oman.[7] Jane’s Information Group reports that Oman possesses BL755 and Rockeye cluster bombs.[8] It also has 122mm Grad-type and Hyrda-70 rocket launchers, but it is not known if the last two include ammunition stockpiles that include cluster munitions.

Policy

The Sultanate of Oman acceded to the Mine Ban Treaty on 20 August 2014 and the treaty entered into force for the country on 1 February 2015, making Oman the 162^nd State Party.[1]

Oman reported that it had directed the legislative authority to create legislation that criminalizes any violation of the treaty and established a permanent committee for the implementation of the treaty at the office of the army chief of staff.[2] In its Article 7 report submitted in May 2017, Oman reported that it had taken several legal measures to implement the Mine Ban Treaty, including Sultan’s Order 26/2014 on joining the convention, and that Oman had included the convention articles in Omani Penal Law and Military Judicial Law, and ordered all military institutions to cease providing instruction on antipersonnel landmine use.[3]

Oman participated as an observer at the Mine Ban Treaty’s First Review Conference in Nairobi in 2004 and the Third Review Conference in Maputo, Mozambique in June 2014. It attended most of the treaty’s Meetings of States Parties, including the Sixteenth Meeting of States Parties in Vienna in December 2017, where it did not make any statements. Oman has also participated in many of the treaty’s intersessional meetings in Geneva, including in June 2018.

Oman is not a party to the Convention on Cluster Munitions or the Convention on Conventional Weapons.

Use, production, transfer, and stockpiling

Oman is obligated to destroy its stockpile of antipersonnel mines as soon as possible but no later than 1 February 2019.

In its initial Article 7 transparency report in 2015, Oman declared a stockpile of 17,260 antipersonnel mines of Belgian, British, and German manufacture.[4] It has stated its intention to retain 2,000 antipersonnel mines and has established an implementation unit to organize stockpile destruction and clearance.[5] Oman noted in its initial Article 7 report that while it possessed an operational stock of claymore mines, they were limited to command detonation mode.[6]

Oman’s 2018 Article 7 transparency report stated that 4,578 antipersonnel mines were destroyed during 2017. The report indicated that it would finish its stockpile destruction during 2018.[7] Oman’s 2017 Article 7 transparency report stated that it destroyed 3,052 antipersonnel mines during 2016.[8] To date, Oman has declared the destruction of 9,156 antipersonnel mines, just over 50% of its stockpile.

Officials previously stated that Oman has never produced or exported antipersonnel mines, but imported and used them in the past.[9]

Note: ERW = explosive remnants of war.

Contamination

The Sultanate of Oman is suspected to be contaminated by mines, though the precise location and extent of any residual threat is not known. In its initial Article 7 report, submitted in 2015, Oman declared that there were no areas in the Sultanate confirmed to be mined, but reported “many” suspected mined areas in the south, particularly in the Dhofar region.[1]

According to its 2015 report, during the mid-1960s to mid-1970s the presence of rebel movements in Dhofar led to “vast” areas being affected by antipersonnel and antivehicle mines. After the end of the conflict in 1975, the government made significant efforts to clear the areas, but it is impossible to be sure that the areas have been fully cleared. This is for three reasons: the size of the region (about 99,000km²); the lack of maps or marking; and the terrain (which includes mountains and valleys), with many mined areas located on steep slopes. In addition, the rain over the years may have scattered the mines.[2]

In 2001, it had been reported that the Royal Army of Oman had mapped seven zones of suspected mined areas based on historical records of battlefield areas, unit positions, and mine incident reports.[3]

Program Management

In its statement before the Committee on Article 5 Implementation during the June 2018 Intersessional Meetings, Oman reported that they began implementing a national program in 2017 and are planning to set up a national mine action center but have not specified when this will occur.[4]

In its Article 7 transparency report for 2016, it reported that survey and clearance is being performed by its army engineers.[5]

Land Release

Oman declared in its latest Article 7 report that in 2017 a clearance plan was formulated in the “southern strategic sector” and approximately 1,700m² of land was cleared. It did not specify where exactly this clearance had taken place nor the number or type of mines that were destroyed.[6]

Article 5 Compliance

Under Article 5 of the Mine Ban Treaty, Oman is required to destroy all antipersonnel mines in mined areas under its jurisdiction or control as soon as possible, but not later than 1 February 2025.

In its Article 7 report for 2017, Oman stated that it is “trying hard” to clear mined areas by 2024.[7] At the June 2018 Intersessional Meetings, Oman promised to provide a comprehensive report at the Seventeenth Meeting of States Parties in November 2018, including all the information that has been requested on demining activities since the 1970s, what has been done as part of their new program, and the support that they will need to complete clearance.[8]

The Monitor acknowledges the contributions of the Mine Action Review (www.mineactionreview.org), which has conducted the primary mine action research in 2018 and shared all its country-level landmine reports (from“Clearing the Mines 2018”) and country-level cluster munition reports (from “Clearing Cluster Munition Remnants 2018”) with the Monitor. The Monitor is responsible for the findings presented online and in its print publications.

No contribution from the Sultanate of Oman was reported for 2014.

Between 2011–2013, Oman provided a total of US$300,000 to mine action in Afghanistan through the UN Voluntary Trust Fund for Assistance in Mine Action (VTF).[1]