Botswana
Cluster Munition Ban Policy
Summary: State Party Botswana ratified the convention on 27 June 2011. It has participated in meetings of the convention, most recently in September 2018. Botswana voted in favor of a key United Nations (UN) resolution promoting the convention in December 2018.
Botswana reports that it has never used or produced cluster munitions. It destroyed its entire stockpile of 510 cluster munitions and 14,400 submunitions on 18 September 2018.
Policy
The Republic of Botswana signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 3 December 2008, ratified on 27 June 2011, and the convention entered into force for the country on 1 December 2011.
In June 2019, Botswana reported that it “is in the process of making a draft law in order to start the domestication process of the convention.” [1] It has provided the same information for the past two years. [2] Since 2012, Botswana has reported various consultations and other measures aimed at preparing implementing legislation for the convention. [3]
Botswana provided its initial Article 7 transparency report for the Convention on Cluster Munitions in August 2012. It has submitted annual updates since then, most recently on 13 June 2019. [4]
Botswana participated in the Oslo Process that created the Convention on Cluster Munitions and sought a comprehensive and immediate ban during the formal negotiations in Dublin in May 2008. [5]
Botswana has participated in some meetings of the convention, most recently the Eighth Meeting of States Parties in Geneva in September 2018. [6]
Botswana voted in favor of a key UN General Assembly (UNGA) resolution promoting implementation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions in December 2018. [7] Botswana has voted in favor of the annual resolution on the convention since it was first introduced in 2015.
Botswana has also voted in favor of UNGA resolutions expressing outrage at the use of cluster munitions in Syria, most recently in December 2018. [8] It voted in favor of a Human Rights Council (HRC) resolution condemning cluster munition use in Syria in March 2017. [9]
Botswana has not elaborated its views on certain important issues relating to the convention’s interpretation and implementation, such as the prohibition on transit, the prohibition on assistance during joint military operations with states not party that may use cluster munitions, the prohibition on foreign stockpiling of cluster munitions, the prohibition on investment in production of cluster munitions, and the need for retention of cluster munitions for training and development purposes.
Botswana is a State Party to the Mine Ban Treaty. It is not party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons.
Use, production, and transfer
Botswana declared in its initial transparency report submitted in August 2012 that it has “never produced cluster munitions” and has no production facilities. [10] The report also confirmed that Botswana has never used cluster munitions. [11]
Stockpile destruction
Botswana declared a stockpile of 510 cluster munitions of two types and 14,400 submunitions:
- 500 M971 mortar projectiles, each containing 24 M87 submunitions, totaling 12,000; and
- 10 CBU-250K air-dropped bombs, each containing 240 PM-1 submunitions, totaling 2,400.
Under Article 3 of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, Botswana was required to destroy all its stockpiled cluster munitions as soon as possible, but not later than 1 December 2019. It completed the destruction more than one year in advance of the deadline, on 18 September 2018.
The convention’s president, Ambassador Aliyar Lebbe Abdul Azeez of Sri Lanka, commended Botswana on meeting its Article 3 obligations and urged all States Parties with obligations and requiring assistance to “emulate this best practice.” [12]
The Botswana Defense Forces developed a plan to destroy the stockpile together with technical advisors from Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA). [13] Botswana reported to States Parties on 3 September 2018 that it planned destroy the stockpile during the last quarter of 2018. [14] It destroyed the entire stockpile by open detonation in the Taukgolo Ranges on 18 September 2018. [15]
Botswana reports that it is not retaining any cluster munitions for research and training purposes. [16]
[1] Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 7 Report, Form A, 13 June 2018. The UN received Botswana’s most recent report on 13 June 2019, although it is dated 31 December 2018 and covers calendar year 2018.
[2] Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 7 Report, Form A, 7 May 2018; and Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 7 Report, Form A, 30 April 2017.
[3] In 2012, Botswana reported that it was holding consultations on the matter of implementation legislation for the convention. See, Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 7 Report, Form A, 31 August 2012. In 2017, Botswana said its Cabinet had provided the National Assembly with a memorandum on national implementation measures as part of a process to move forward on implementing legislation to enforce the convention’s provisions. Statement of Botswana, Convention on Cluster Munitions Seventh Meeting of States Parties, Geneva, 4 September 2017.
[4] The initial report covered the period to 29 May 2012, while the annual reports cover the previous calendar year.
[5] For details on Botswana’s policy and 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. 45–46.
[6] Botswana also attended the convention’s Meetings of States Parties in 2010, 2016, and 2017. It has also attended regional workshops on cluster munitions, most recently in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in August 2016
[7] “Implementation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions,” UNGA Resolution 73/54, 5 December 2018.
[8] “Situation of human rights in the Syrian Arab Republic,” UNGA Resolution 73/182, 17 December 2018. Botswana voted in favor of similar resolutions in 2013–2017.
[9] “The human rights situation in the Syrian Arab Republic,” HRC Resolution 34/26, 24 March 2017.
[10] Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 7 Report, Forms D and E, 31 August 2012. It has repeated this status in subsequent Article 7 reports.
[11] According to the report, “Botswana has never fired any of the cluster munitions.” Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 7 Report, Form F, 31 August 2012.
[12] Convention on Cluster Munitions, “BOTSWANA completes destruction of its cluster munition stockpiles more than a year ahead of Convention deadline,” 22 November 2018.
[13] Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 7 Report, Form B, 7 May 2018; and email from Hans Risser, Head of Operations, Department for Humanitarian Disarmament, NPA, 30 July 2018.
[14] Statement of Botswana, Convention on Cluster Munitions Eighth Meeting of States Parties, Geneva, 3 September 2018.
[15] Convention on Cluster Munitions, “BOTSWANA completes destruction of its cluster munition stockpiles more than a year ahead of Convention deadline,” 22 November 2018.
[16] Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 7 Report, Form C, 30 April 2017; and Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 7 Report, Form C, 13 June 2019.