Summary: State Party Cuba acceded to the convention on 6 April 2016. Cuba voted in favor of a key United Nations (UN) resolution promoting the convention in December 2018.

Cuba provided its transparency report for the convention in March 2018, confirming that it has never produced cluster munitions, but did import them. Cuba destroyed the entire stockpile of 1,856 cluster munitions during 2017 and has not retained any for training purposes.

Policy

The Republic of Cuba acceded to the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 6 April 2016 and the convention entered into force for the country on 1 October 2016.

Cuba has reported certain provisions of its Penal Code and three other laws under relevant national implementation measures for the convention. [1] Since 2016, Cuba has often said that it is applying the convention’s provisions. [2]

Cuba provided its initial Article 7 transparency report for the convention on 30 March 2017 and delivered an updated report in April 2018. [3]

Cuba did not participate in the Oslo Process that created the Convention on Cluster Munitions, but it attended some of the convention’s meetings as an observer.

Cuba attended the convention’s Eighth Meeting of States Parties in Geneva in September 2018. Before acceding, Cuba participated as an observer in several meetings of the convention and regularly expressed support for the humanitarian rational of banning cluster munitions. [4] Cuba gave no indication that it was considering acceding to the convention until the First Review Conference in September 2015, where it announced its intent to join. [5]

Before joining, Cuba objected to the way in which the Convention on Cluster Munitions was concluded outside of UN auspices and expressed concern about certain provisions, such as the definition of cluster munitions and “interoperability” provisions contained in Article 21 on relations with states not party to the convention. [6]

Months before it acceded, Cuba voted in favor of a UN General Assembly (UNGA) resolution in December 2015, which called on states outside the Convention on Cluster Munitions to “join as soon as possible.” [7] It has continued to vote in favor of the annual UNGA resolution promoting the convention, most recently in December 2018. [8]

Cuba is not party to the Mine Ban Treaty. It is party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW).

Use, production, and transfer

Cuba reports that it has never produced cluster munitions, but it acquired and stockpiled them. [9] Cuba is not known to have used or exported cluster munitions.

Stockpiling and destruction

In its initial Article 7 report provided in March 2017, Cuba declared a stockpile of 1,856 cluster munitions, but it did not specify the quantity of submunitions they contained.

Cluster munitions once stockpiled by Cuba [10]

Cuba’s stockpiled cluster munitions were manufactured in the Soviet Union and included air-dropped bombs as well as cartridges for KMGU submunition dispensers. [11]

Under Article 3 of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, Cuba was required to destroy all stockpiled cluster munitions under its jurisdiction and control as soon as possible, but not later than 1 October 2026.

Cuba reported in April 2018 that it no longer stockpiles cluster munitions after it destroyed them by open detonation during 2017. [12] The report did not list the quantity of cluster munitions and submunitions destroyed.

Cuba is not retaining any cluster munitions for research or training purposes. [13]