Summary: State Party Guyana acceded to the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 31 October 2014. Guyana has never participated in a meeting of the convention but voted in favor of a key United Nations (UN) resolution promoting the convention in December 2018.

Guyana is not known to have used, produced, transferred, or stockpiled cluster munitions.

Policy

The Republic of Guyana acceded to the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 31 October 2014 and became a State Party on 1 April 2015.

The status of Guyana’s national implementation measures for the convention is not known.

As of 27 June 2019, Guyana has not provided an initial Article 7 transparency report for the Convention on Cluster Munitions, originally due by 27 September 2015.

Guyana did not participate in the Oslo Process that created the convention.

Guyana has never attended a meeting of the convention, but government officials expressed interest in the convention on several occasions before Guyana acceded. [1]

In December 2018, Guyana voted in favor of a UN General Assembly (UNGA) resolution, which calls on states outside the Convention on Cluster Munitions to “join as soon as possible.” [2] It has voted in favor of the annual resolution promoting the convention since it was first introduced in 2015.

Guyana has also voted in favor of UNGA resolutions expressing outrage at the use of cluster munitions in Syria, most recently in December 2018. [3]

Guyana has not elaborated its views on several important issues relating to its interpretation and implementation of the convention, including 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 investments in cluster munition production.

Guyana is party to the Mine Ban Treaty. It is not party the Convention on Conventional Weapons.

Use, production, transfer, and stockpiling

Guyana is not known to have used, produced, transferred, or stockpiled cluster munitions. It must provide a transparency report for the convention to formally confirm this cluster munition-free status.

Policy

The Republic of Guyana signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 4 December 1997 and ratified it on 5 August 2003, becoming a State Party on 1 February 2004. Guyana has not enacted new legislation specifically to implement the Mine Ban Treaty.

Guyana has not attended any recent meetings of the treaty. Guyana submitted a Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 report in 2010 covering the period from 2007 to 2009, but has never submitted an updated report.

Guyana is not party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons. It is party to the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

Stockpiling, production, use, and retention

Guyana has never used or produced antipersonnel mines. Although the Monitor received information that Guyana had a stockpile, Guyana reported in 2006 that it did not have a stockpile of antipersonnel mines. It is possible that a stockpile was destroyed in an ammunition storage area explosion in 2000.