Summary: Non-signatory Argentina adopted the convention in 2008, but has not taken any steps to accede. Argentina has attended nearly all of the convention’s meetings, but abstained from voting on a key United Nations (UN) resolution promoting the convention in December 2018. Argentina imported and stockpiled cluster munitions in the past, but affirms it never used or exported them. According to Argentina, the cluster munition stocks were destroyed prior to the 2008 ban convention and it has no intention to produce them in the future.

Policy

The Republic of Argentina has not acceded to the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

Since the convention’s 2008 adoption, Argentine officials have long linked the government’s position on joining to its negative interpretation of certain aspects of the convention. In September 2018, Argentina again told States Parties that it supports the goal of prohibiting cluster munitions, but regards the convention as “not sufficiently ambitious” and finds the articles on definitions and interoperability to be “contrary to the objective of the total prohibition and the principle of non-discrimination.”[1]

Argentina actively participated in the Oslo Process and joined in the consensus adoption of the Convention on Cluster Munitions at the conclusion of the negotiations in Dublin on 30 May 2008.[2] However, it was absent from the Oslo Signing Conference in December 2008.

Argentina has articulated the same concerns about the convention since 2008. It regards the convention’s prohibitions as “discriminatory in nature” as they are not “comprehensive” and “specifically define one excluded category developed by some countries.” Argentina also alleges the convention permits or allows States Parties to participate in joint military operations with countries that use cluster munitions.

At the beginning of the Oslo Process, Argentina supported technical solutions to the cluster munition problem, noting that it was developing a new generation of cluster munitions with low failure rates.[3] It supported a definition that would have exempted cluster munitions containing submunitions equipped with self-destruct mechanisms.[4] During the process, Argentina’s position evolved into support for a broad definition prohibiting all cluster munitions and a total ban without exceptions.[5] Argentina strongly objected to Article 21 of the convention and has long described this provision as a potential loophole allowing for cluster munition use.[6]

Argentina has participated as an observer in all of the convention’s meetings, most recently the Eighth Meeting of States Parties in Geneva in September 2018. It attended the convention’s First Review Conference in Dubrovnik, Croatia in 2015 and intersessional meetings in 2011–2014. Argentina has participated in regional workshops on the convention, most recently in Santiago, Chile in 2013.[7]

Since 2015, Argentina has abstained from voting on every UN General Assembly (UNGA) resolution supporting implementation and universalization of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, most recently in December 2018.[8] Argentina said it abstained from the draft 2018 resolution because of its objections to the convention’s definition and interoperability provision.[9]

Argentina has expressed concern at the use of cluster munitions. While serving as president of the Security Council in October 2014, Argentina said it was, “naturally deeply perturbed by the reports of the use of cluster bombs in densely populated areas” in Ukraine.[10] Argentina has voted in favor of UNGA resolutions condemning the use of cluster munitions in Syria, most recently in December 2018.[11] It has also voted in favor of Human Rights Council resolutions condemning the use of cluster munitions in Syria.[12]

Argentina is a State Party to the Mine Ban Treaty. It is also party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW).

Cluster Munition Coalition (CMC) member, Association for Public Policy (Asociación para Politicas Publicas, APP) has campaigned for Argentina to join the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

Use, production, transfer, and stockpiling

Argentina is not known to have ever used or exported cluster munitions. It does not currently produce or stockpile cluster munitions, but in the past both imported and stockpiled them, and had the beginnings of a production program.

Argentina has repeatedly stated that, “the Republic of Argentina doesn’t have cluster munitions, and it hasn’t utilized or transferred them.”[13] The government has said it has no intention to produce cluster munitions in the future.[14]

In the past, the Armed Forces Center for Technical and Scientific Research (Centro de Investigaciones Técnicas y Científicas de las Fuerzas Armadas, CITEFA) developed and initiated production of the CME 155mm artillery projectile, which contained 63 dual-purpose improved conventional munition (DPICM) submunitions equipped with a backup pyrotechnic self-destruct mechanism.[15] According to military officials, this effort did not reach full-scale production and was dismantled, and the projectiles were never fielded by the armed forces of Argentina.[16]

In May 2007, Argentina stated that it had already destroyed its stocks of cluster munitions.[17] In 2006, its military representatives told Human Rights Watch (HRW) that the stocks of French BLG-66 Belouga and US Rockeye air-dropped bombs were destroyed by 2005.[18]

Policy

Argentina signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 4 December 1997 and ratified it on 14 December 1999, becoming a State Party on 1 June 2000. Argentina has not enacted domestic legislation to implement the Mine Ban Treaty. In the past, Argentina has indicated that it was studying ways to incorporate penalties on the use, stockpiling, production, or transferring of antipersonnel mines into Argentine law.[1] Law No. 4745/01 prohibits the use of antipersonnel mines by the armed forces.[2]

Argentina regularly attends meetings of the treaty, including the Third Review Conference in Maputo in June 2014, and more recently, the Seventeenth Meeting of States Parties in Geneva in November 2018, where it made statements on victim assistance, Article 5 mine clearance requirements, enhancement of cooperation and assistance, and universalization of the convention.[3] Argentina consistently submits annual updated Article 7 transparency reports. On 5 December 2018, Argentina voted in favor of UN General Assembly resolution 73/61 promoting universalization and implementation of the convention, as it has done in previous years.[4]

Argentina is party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons and its Amended Protocol II on landmines and Protocol V on explosive remnants of war. Argentina is not party to the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

Production, transfer, stockpiling, and retention

Argentina is a former producer and exporter of antipersonnel mines. Production took place at the General Directorate of Military Industries (Dirección General de Fabricaciones Militares) of the Ministry of Defense. Argentina has stated that it produced only one type of antipersonnel mine, the FMK-1 plastic blast mine, at the “Fray Luis Beltrán” factory between 1976 and 1990, manufacturing 18,970 FMK-1 mines during this period.[5] Equipment formerly used for production is now being used to make reinforced fuzes, detonators for grenades, estopines (initiators), and other items.[6] According to the United States (US) Department of Defense, Argentina had manufactured two other types of antipersonnel mines: the MAPG pressure or tripwire-initiated mine and the MAPPG bounding mine.[7] The government never officially declared production of these mines which date from the 1940s/1950s, but an official said the mines could have been imported and re-catalogued to make their identification easier.[8]

Based on Article 7 reports and mines found in the Malvinas/Falkland Islands, Argentina imported antipersonnel mines from Libya (MAP and TRA), Israel (Number 4), Italy (SB-33), and Spain (P4B). Argentina exported nearly 3,000 FMK-1 antipersonnel mines to Honduras. An export moratorium was instituted in March 1995, which has since been superseded by the Mine Ban Treaty. Argentina sold weapons to Croatia, including 5,750 antipersonnel and antivehicle mines, several months before the moratorium was instituted.[9]

Argentina formerly possessed a stockpile, but on 4 December 2003, Argentina completed the destruction of its 90,919 antipersonnel mines.[10] Argentina originally indicated it would retain 13,025 mines for training but decided to convert most of these mines to inert “exercise mines.” At the end of 2018, Argentina reported that it had destroyed the remaining mines retained for training and research.[11]

Use

Argentina last used landmines during the Malvinas/Falkland Islands war in 1982, and it has stated that the islands are the only mine-affected part of Argentina (see also United Kingdom country profile). According to Argentina’s May 2001 Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 report, 20,000 EXPAL P4B and FMK-1 antipersonnel mines were laid during the 1982 conflict.[12] In July 2002, it added SB-33 antipersonnel mines to the list of mines it used on the islands.[13]

During the confrontation with Chile in 1978, the Chilean army laid mines along the border; it is unknown whether the Argentine army laid mines as well.[14]

20-Year Summary

Note: N/A = not applicable; ERW = explosive remnants of war.

The Republic of Argentina became a State Party to the Mine Ban Treaty on 1 March 2000. It has not enacted domestic implementation legislation. Argentina completed destruction of its stockpile of more than 90,000 antipersonnel mines on 4 December 2003. In December 2005, States Parties agreed to a proposal by Chile and Argentina for expanded reporting on mines retained for training and development purposes.

Argentina has asserted that the “illegal occupation” of the Malvinas/Falkland Islands by the United Kingdom (UK) has “effectively prevented [it] from having access to the anti-personnel mines…in order to fulfill the obligations undertaken in the Mine Ban Treaty.” Argentina submitted a request for a 10-year extension to its Article 5 deadline on 27 April 2009. In March 2019, Argentina submitted an extension request for an additional three years until 1 March 2023.[2] This is a shorter timeframe than the 2018 UK extension deadline of 1 March 2024.

Contamination and Impact

The Republic of Argentina reports that it is mine-affected by virtue of its claim to sovereignty over the Malvinas/Falkland Islands.[3] On ratifying the Mine Ban Treaty, Argentina submitted a declaration reaffirming “its rights of sovereignty over the Malvinas, South Georgia and South Sandwich and the surrounding maritime areas which form an integral part of the territory.”[4] It reiterated this declaration at the Sixteenth Meeting of States Parties and the June 2018 Mine Ban Treaty Intersessional Meetings.[5] The islands were mined, mostly by Argentinian forces, during its armed conflict with the UK in 1982. Argentina has reported that no other territory under its jurisdiction or control is mine-affected.[6]

Mine Ban Treaty Article 5 Compliance

Argentina argued at the Second Review Conference in 2009 that it is unable to meet its Article 5 obligations because it has not had access to the Malvinas/Falklands due to the “illegal occupation” by the UK.[7] Argentina said that for this reason it had no other choice than to request an extension to its clearance deadline. It did offer more than a decade ago to support demining of the islands. In December 2017, Argentina reiterated its claim of sovereignty over the islands and declared that if the UK entered into negotiations over sovereignty an agreement on demining could be reached between the two states.[8]

In March 2018, the UK formally submitted a request to extend its Article 5 deadline by an additional five years until 1 March 2024. This deadline is to complete the demining of the islands.[9] In March 2019, Argentina submitted an extension request for an additional three years until 1 March 2023.[10] This is a shorter timeframe than the 2018 UK extension deadline of 1 March 2024.