Guinea-Bissau
Cluster Munition Ban Policy
Summary: State Party Guinea-Bissau ratified the convention on 29 November 2010. It has participated in meetings of the of the convention, but not since 2015. Guinea-Bissau voted in favor of a key United Nations (UN) resolution promoting the convention in December 2018.
Guinea-Bissau states that it has not used or produced cluster munitions, but it has requested technical and financial assistance to destroy its stockpiled cluster munitions. Unfortunately, Guinea-Bissau missed its stockpile destruction deadline of 1 May 2019 and it has been in violation of the convention ever since. Guinea-Bissau has never provided an initial transparency report for the convention, originally due in October 2011, and has never detailed the quantities and types of the cluster munition stockpile.
Policy
The Republic of Guinea-Bissau signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 3 December 2008, ratified on 29 November 2010, and the convention entered into force for the country on 1 May 2011.
Guinea-Bissau stated in 2013 that it considers existing legislation as sufficient to enforce its implementation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions.[1]
As of 31 July 2019, Guinea-Bissau still has not submitted its initial Article 7 transparency report for the Convention on Cluster Munitions, originally due by 28 October 2011.[2] Timely submission of the report is a legal obligation.
Guinea-Bissau participated in some meetings of the Oslo Process that created the convention, including the formal negotiations in Dublin in May 2008, where it joined other African states in opposing efforts to weaken the convention text and participated in the consensus adoption of the text.[3]
Guinea-Bissau has participated in meetings of the convention, but not since 2014.[4] It was invited to, but did not attend the Eighth Meeting of States Parties in Geneva in September 2018.
Guinea-Bissau voted in favor of a key UN General Assembly (UNGA) resolution promoting implementation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions in December 2018.[5] It has voted in favor of the annual UNGA resolution promoting the convention since it was first introduced in 2015.
Guinea-Bissau has not elaborated its views on certain important issues relating to the interpretation and implementation of the convention, 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, and the prohibition on investment in production of cluster munitions.
Guinea-Bissau is a State Party to the Mine Ban Treaty. It is also party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons.
Use, production, and transfer
Guinea-Bissau stated in 2008 that it does not use or produce cluster munitions.[6] It is not known to have exported cluster munitions, but it imported them.
Stockpile destruction
Guinea-Bissau possesses cluster munitions of Soviet origin, but it has not provided information on the quantities, types, or origin of the current stocks.[7] The National Mine Action Coordination Center (Centro Nacional de Coordenação da Acção Anti-Minas, CAAMI) conducted an inventory in 2011 to review the stockpile of cluster munitions held at an air force base in Bissau City.[8] Guinea-Bissau stated on several occasions that it would need assistance to destroy the stockpiled cluster munitions.[9]
Under Article 3 of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, Guinea-Bissau was required to destroy all its stockpiled cluster munitions as soon as possible, but not later than 1 May 2019. It has been in violation of the convention since that date.
States Parties may request an extension of the deadline but Guinea-Bissau has not done so and as of July 2019, it still has not provided any information on the stockpile or plans to destroy it.
Guinea-Bissau has not indicated if it will retain cluster munitions for research or training purposes.
[1] Guinea-Bissau said the country’s Penal Code provides for sanctions of any violations of the Convention on Cluster Munitions. Statement of Guinea-Bissau, Lomé Regional Seminar on the Universalization of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, Lomé, Togo, 23 May 2013.
[2] Statement of Guinea-Bissau, Convention on Cluster Munitions Fourth Meeting of States Parties, Lusaka, 11 September 2013. In 2011, Guinea-Bissau warned that its Article 7 report could be delayed due to the need to inventory stockpiled cluster munitions. Statement of Guinea-Bissau, Convention on Cluster Munitions Intersessional Meetings, Session on Clearance and Risk Reduction, Geneva, 29 June 2011.
[3] For details on Guinea-Bissau’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. 86–87.
[4] Guinea-Bissau participated in the convention’s Meetings of States Parties of the convention in 2010–2014 and intersessional meetings in 2011–2015. It has attended regional meetings on cluster munitions, most recently in Lomé, Togo in May 2013.
[5] “Implementation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions,” UNGA Resolution 73/54, 5 December 2018.
[6] Statement by Amb. Augusto Artur António Silva, Secretary of State and International Cooperation, Convention on Cluster Munitions Signing Conference, Oslo, 4 December 2008.
[7] Statement of Guinea-Bissau, Convention on Cluster Munitions Intersessional Meetings, Geneva, 29 June 2011. RBK-series air-dropped bombs and PTAB-2.5 submunitions were among munitions ejected by an explosion at an ammunition storage facility on the outskirts of Bissau City in 2000. Cleared Ground Demining, “Guinea Bissau Project Update,” undated but 2006.
[8] Interview with César Luis Gomes Lopes de Carvalho, General Director, CAAMI, in Geneva, 27 June 2011.
[9] Statement of Guinea-Bissau, Convention on Cluster Munitions Fifth Meeting of States Parties, San Jose, 3 September 2014. Guinea-Bissau told States Parties it asked for help to destroy its stockpile in 2013 from the UN Mine Action Service (UNMAS), which had conducted a technical assessment in 2011 that found the cluster munition stocks were held by the armed forces “in very bad conditions.” See, statement of Guinea-Bissau, Convention on Cluster Munitions Fourth Meeting of States Parties, Lusaka, 11 September 2013.