Central African Republic
Cluster Munition Ban Policy
Summary: Signatory the Central African Republic has expressed its desire to ratify the convention, but it has not been able to complete the process due to internal armed conflict and other factors. It has participated in meetings of the convention, but not since 2014. It voted in favor of a key United Nations (UN) resolution on the convention in December 2018. According to the Central African Republic, it has never used, produced, or exported cluster munitions and has destroyed stocks of cluster munitions.
Policy
The Central African Republicsigned the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 3 December 2008.
The current status of ratification is not known. Previously, in 2013, government representatives told the Cluster Munition Coalition (CMC) that internal armed conflict was preventing it from ratifying the convention. [1] Before 2013, government officials said the country’s ratification of the convention was pending. [2]
The Central African Republic participated in a regional meeting (in Kampala, Uganda in September 2008) of the diplomatic Oslo Process that created the convention. [3]
The Central African Republic participated in meetings of the convention but not since 2014. [4] It was invited to, but did not attend, the convention’s Eighth Meeting of States Parties in Geneva in September 2018.
In December 2018, it voted in favor of a UN General Assembly (UNGA) resolution that urges states outside the convention to “join as soon as possible.” [5] It voted in favor of the annual UNGA resolution promoting the convention in 2015 and 2016. [6]
The Central African Republic has voted in favor of UNGA resolutions condemning the use of cluster munitions in Syria, most recently in December 2018. [7]
The Central African Republic is a State Party to the Mine Ban Treaty. It is not party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons.
Use, production, transfer, and stockpiling
The Central African Republic has stated that it has never used, produced, or transferred cluster munitions and that it is not affected by cluster munition remnants. [8]
Officials indicate that cluster munitions have been recovered from non-state armed groups operating in the country. [9]
[1] CMC meeting with Désiré Laurent Malibangar, Coordinator, Ministry of Defense, Lomé, 22 May 2013. The Central African Republic delegation to the Convention on Cluster Munitions Fourth Meeting of States Parties in September 2013 also informed the CMC that ratification had been delayed by conflict.
[2] Statement of the Central African Republic, Accra Regional Conference on the Universalization of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, Accra, 28 May 2012; and statement of the Central African Republic, Convention on Cluster Munitions Second Meeting of States Parties, Beirut, 14 September 2011.
[3] For details on the Central African Republic’s cluster munition policy and practice up to early 2009, see Human Rights Watch and Landmine Action, Banning Cluster Munitions: Government Policy and Practice (Ottawa: Mines Action Canada, May 2009), p. 55.
[4] The Central African Republic participated in the convention’s Meetings of States Parties until 2014. It also attended a regional workshop on cluster munitions in Lomé, Togo in May 2013.
[5] Implementation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions,” UNGA Resolution 73/54, 5 December 2018.
[6] The Central African Republic was absent from the vote in 2017.
[7] “Situation of human rights in the Syrian Arab Republic,” UNGA Resolution 73/182, 17 December 2018. The Central African Republic voted in favor of similar resolutions in 2013–2017.
[8] Statement by Antoine Gambi, Ministry of Defense, Convention on Cluster Munitions Signing Conference, Oslo, 4 December 2008. Notes by Landmine Action.
[9] CMC meeting with Désiré Laurent Malibangar, Ministry of Defense, Accra, 29 May 2012. The official made this clarification after the Central African Republic told States Parties in 2011 that it had destroyed a stockpile of cluster munitions. Statement of the Central African Republic, Convention on Cluster Munitions Second Meeting of States Parties, Beirut, 14 September 2011.