Peru

Cluster Munition Ban Policy

Last updated: 02 August 2018

Summary: State Party Peru ratified the convention on 26 September 2012. It has participated in many of the convention’s meetings, most recently in September 2017, and has voted in favor of a key United Nations (UN) resolution promoting the convention in December 2017.

Peru has not used, produced, or exported cluster munitions, but it has imported them. Peru has reported a stockpile of 2,005 cluster munitions and 152,982 submunitions that must be destroyed by its convention mandated 1 March 2021 deadline. Peru destroyed nine stockpiled cluster munitions and 888 submunitions during 2017 as part of the process of preparations to destroy the stockpile by its 2021 deadline. It does not intend to notretain any cluster munitions for research or training.

Policy

The Republic of Peru signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 3 December 2008, ratified on 26 September 2012, and the convention entered into force for the country on 1 March 2013.

Peru has not enacted specific legislation to enforce its implementation of the convention. It reports the 2012 ratification decree and other regulations under relevant national implementation measures for the convention.[1]

Peru submitted its initial Article 7 transparency report for the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 1 August 2013. It has provided annual updated reports since then, most recently in April 2018.[2]

As one of the small core group of nations that took responsibility for the Oslo Process that created the convention, Peru hosted an international conference on cluster munitions in Lima in May 2007.[3]

Peru regards its work for the Convention on Cluster Munitions as “a complete priority.”[4] It has participated in all of the convention’s meetings.[5]

In December 2017, Peruvoted in favor of a key UN General Assembly (UNGA) resolution promoting implementation of the convention.[6]

Peru has condemned the “horrendous” use of cluster munitions in Syria and other countries, which it has called “alarming.”[7] It has voted in favor of Human Rights Council (HRC) resolutions condemning the use of cluster munitions in Syria, most recently in March 2018.[8] Peru has also voted in favor of UNGA resolutions expressing outrage at the use of cluster munitions in Syria, most recently in December 2017.[9]

In September 2017, Peru elaborated its views on the convention’s prohibition on assisting with activities prohibited by the convention, stating that it interprets Article 1 as prohibiting investments in the production of cluster munitions, that is to say, it bans the provision of financial assistance to producers of cluster munitions.[10]

Peru has not expressed its position on other important issues relating to the interpretation and implementation of the convention, including the prohibition on transit, the prohibition on assistance during joint military operations with states not party that may use cluster munitions, and the prohibition on foreign stockpiling of cluster munitions.

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

Use, production, and transfer

Peru is not known to have ever used, produced, or exported cluster munitions. It however imported cluster munitions and possesses a stockpile.

Stockpiling

Peru has reported a stockpile of 2,005 cluster munitions and 152,982 submunitions, as listed in the following table. It possesses two types of air-deliveredcluster munitions manufactured in two countries from the 1970s until 1996:BME-330 cluster bombs from Spain, and RBK-series cluster bombs from Russia/Soviet Union.[11]

Cluster munitions once stockpiled by Peru[12]

Type

Quantity of cluster munitions

Quantity of submunitions

RBK-250-275 AO-1SCh, each containing 150 submunitions (manufactured in 1975)

388

58,200

RBK-500 AO-2.5RT, each containing 60 submunitions (manufactured in 1987)

197

11,820

RBK-250 PTAB 2.5, each containing 42 submunitions (manufactured in 1975)

657

27,594

BME-330 NA, each containing 180 SNA submunitions (manufactured in 1986)

89

16,020

BME-330 AR, each containing 180 SNA submunitions (manufactured in 1996)

53

9,540

RBK 250-ZAB 2.5 bombs

621

29,808

Total

2,005

152,982

 

In 2013, Peru initially declared a stockpile of 676 cluster munitions of three types and 86,280 submunitions.[13] It subsequently reported an additional 1,331 cluster munitions and 66,894 submunitions in 2016.[14]

Stockpile destruction

Under Article 3 of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, Peru is required to declare and destroy all stockpiled cluster munitions under its jurisdiction or control as soon as possible but not later than 1 March 2021.

At the First Review Conference in 2015, Peru reiterated that its pledge to destroy the stocks by the deadline.[15]

Since 2013, Peru has destroyed 40 cluster munitions and 1,838 submunitions, including nine cluster munitions and 888 submunitions that it reported were destroyed in 2017 as part of the process of researching how to safely destroy the stockpile.[16]

Cluster munitions destroyed by Peru since entry into force

Type

Quantity of cluster munitions (submunitions)

RBK-500 AO-2.5RT

3 (48)

RBK-250-275 AO-1SCh

1

RBK-250 PTAB-2.5M

36 (1,650)

Total

40 (1,838)

 

The Peruvian Air Force is responsible for destroying the stockpiled cluster munitions, which are held at several locations, including Puntos Lobos Base in the Pucusana district, south of Lima.[17] Peru completed a “preparation and testing” phase for the stockpile destruction in 2016.[18] It held a planning workshop in Lima on 22–23 November 2017 to discuss destruction of the cluster munition stocks.[19]

Since 2015, Peru has received technical support for its stockpile destruction, including on potential disassembly and destruction techniques, from humanitarian mine clearance operator Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA), which conducted trainings in May and June 2018.[20]

Retention

Since 2013, Peru has reported that it does not intend to retain any cluster munitions for research or training in detection, clearance, and destruction techniques.[21]



[1] Legislative Resolution approving the Convention on Cluster Munitions (Resolución Legislativa que aprueba la Convención sobre Municiones en Racimo), No. 29843, 15 March 2012. On 25 April 2012, Decree 021-2012 approving ratification was signed and published in the official journal El Peruano the next day. Decree No. 021-2012-RE, 26 April 2012; “Ref. 464960,” El Peruano, 26 April 2012; and Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 7 Report, Form A, 1 August 2013.

[2] The initial report covers the period from March to August 2013, while subsequent updates have covered the previous calendar year.

[3] For details on Peru’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), pp. 142–144.

[4] Statement of Peru, UN First Committee on Disarmament and International Security, New York, 9 October 2015.

[5] Peru has participated in all of the convention’s Meetings of States Parties, the First Review Conference in 2015 and intersessional meetings in 2011–2015, as well as regional workshops on cluster munitions.

[6] “Implementation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions,” UNGA Resolution 72/54, 4 December 2017. Peru voted in favor of previous UNGA resolutions promoting the convention in 2015 and 2016.

[7] Statement of Peru, Convention on Cluster Munitions Fifth Meeting of States Parties, San José, 3 September 2014. Notes by the Cluster Munition Coalition (CMC).

[8] “The human rights situation in the Syrian Arab Republic,” HRC Resolution 37/29, 19 March 2018.

[9] “Situation of human rights in the Syrian Arab Republic,” UNGA Resolution 72/191, 19 December 2017. Peru voted in favor of similar resolutions in 2013–2016.

[10] Intervention by Peru, Convention on Cluster Munition Seventh Meeting of States Parties, Geneva, 5 September 2017.

[11] During the Oslo Process, in May 2007, Peru’s Minister of Defense first publicly disclosed that the Peruvian Air Force stocks of BME-330 cluster bombs, RBK-500 cluster bombs, and CB-470 cluster bombs. Ángel Páez, “Peru se suma a iniciativa mundial para prohibir y destruir las ‘bombas de racimo’” (“Peru joins global initiative to ban and destroy the ‘cluster bombs’”), La República.pe, 29 May 2007. In May 2007, a member of the national media showed Human Rights Watch photographs of these cluster munitions. See also, ÁngelPáez, “Se eliminarán las bombas de racimo” (“Cluster bombs will be eliminated”), La República.pe, 29 May 2007.

[12] Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 7 Report, Form B, 2018. However, information provided by Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA) in July 2018 indicates that the cumulative totals presented in transparency reports contained some accounting errors and the information is being re-evaluated in conjunction with Peruvian stakeholders. Email from Han Risser, Head of Operations, Department for Humanitarian Disarmament, NPA, 27 July 2018.

[13] Peru reported that the stockpile is “Vencida por tiempo límite de vida,” which translates as “expired” and stated that there is “no information on the batch numbers for the submunitions.” See, Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 7 Report, Form B, August 2013.

[14] 657 RBK-250 PTAB 2.5 cluster bombs and27,594 submunitions and 53 BME-330 AR and9,540 submunitions. Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 7 Report, Form B, 2016.

[15] Statement of Peru, Convention on Cluster Munitions First Review Conference, Dubrovnik, 11 September 2015. Previously, in April 2014, Peru expressed its commitment to destroy the stockpile by the convention’s deadline and said it had requested international cooperation and assistance to do so. Statement of Peru, Convention on Cluster Munitions Intersessional Meetings, Geneva, 7 April 2014.

[16] Peru stated the nine cluster bombs and 888 submunition were destroyed in 2017. See, Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 7 Report, Form B, April 2018. However, information provided by NPA in July 2018 indicates that the cumulative totals presented in transparency reports contain some accounting errors and the information is being re-evaluated in conjunction with Peruvian stakeholders. Email from Han Risser, NPA, 27 July 2018.

[18] Statement of Peru, Convention on Cluster Munitions Sixth Meeting of States Parties, Geneva, 6 September 2016; and Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 7 Report, Form B, 2017.

[21] See, Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 7 Reports, Form C, August 2013; 7 May 2014; and 3 June 2015. Prior to 2013, Peru indicated it would retain cluster munitions for training. See, statement of Peru, Convention on Cluster Munitions Intersessional Meetings, Geneva, 18 April 2012.