São Tomé and Principe

Cluster Munition Ban Policy

Last updated: 26 June 2018

Summary: Signatory São Tomé e Príncipe last commented in 2010 on its efforts to ratify the convention, which are not believed to have proceeded since then. São Tomé e Príncipe has participated in meetings of the convention, most recently in 2017. São Tomé e Príncipe states that it has never used cluster munitions and it is not known to have produced, transferred, or stockpiled them.

Policy

The Democratic Republic of São Tomé e Príncipe signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 3 December 2008.

The status of São Tomé e Príncipe’s ratification of the convention is not known, as government officials last provided an update on its ratification efforts in November 2010.[1] A representative attended the convention’s Seventh Meeting of States Parties in Geneva, Switzerland in September 2017, but did not speak to provide an update on ratification.

During the Oslo Process, São Tomé e Príncipe participated in the formal negotiations of the Convention on Cluster Munitions in Dublin in May 2008, where it supported a comprehensive ban without exceptions.[2]

São Tomé e Príncipe participated in the convention’s Meetings of States Parties in 2010, 2012–2013, and 2017. It has attended regional workshops on the convention, most recently in Kampala, Uganda in May 2017.[3]

Since 2015, São Tomé e Príncipe has been absent from the vote on a key annual United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) resolution that calls on states outside the Convention on Cluster Munitions to “join as soon as possible.”[4]

São Tomé e Príncipe is a State Party to the Mine Ban Treaty. It is not party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons.

Use, production, transfer, and stockpiling

São Tomé e Príncipe has stated that it has never used cluster munitions.[5] It is not known to have ever produced, transferred, or stockpiled the weapon.



[1] Government representatives informed the Cluster Munition Coalition (CMC) that draft ratification would soon be submitted to parliament in 2011. CMC meeting with Carlos Manuel Moreno, First Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Lassalete Neto Boa Morte, Ministry of Defense, in Vientiane, November 2010. Notes by the CMC.

[2] For details on São Tomé e Príncipe’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. 149.

[3] Convention on Cluster Munitions Ratification Seminar, Kampala, 29–30 May 2017; “The Addis Ababa Commitment on Universalization and Implementation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions,” Africa Regional Workshop on the Universalization of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, 5 August 2016.

[4]Implementation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions,” UNGA Resolution 72/54, 4 December 2017; “Implementation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions,” UNGA Resolution 71/45, 5 December 2016; and “Implementation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions,” UNGA Resolution 70/54, 7 December 2015.

[5] Statement of São Tomé e Príncipe, Convention on Cluster Munitions Signing Conference, Oslo, 3 December 2008.