Liberia

Cluster Munition Ban Policy

Last updated: 25 June 2019

Summary: Signatory Liberia still has not ratified the convention. It has participated in several meetings of the convention, most recently in 2017. Liberia voted in favor of a key United Nations (UN) resolution on the convention in December 2018.

Liberia is not known to have used, produced, or transferred cluster munitions and stated in 2011 that it has never stockpiled them.

Policy

The Republic of Liberia signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 3 December 2008.

Liberia has expressed its intent to ratify the convention on several occasions over the past decade, most recently at the convention’s Seventh Meeting of States Parties in September 2017. [1] Liberian government officials acknowledge the ratification process lacks momentum. [2] The government introduced draft legislation approving Liberia’s ratification of the convention on 22 July 2015 that was never approved by the parliament. [3] Previously, in 2011–2013, Liberia conducted stakeholder consultations on the matter of ratifying the convention. [4]

Liberia participated in the Oslo Process that produced the Convention on Cluster Munitions. [5]

Liberia has attended several the convention’s meetings, most recently in September 2017. It was invited to, but did not attend, the Eighth Meeting of States Parties in Geneva in September 2018. It has participated in regional workshops on the convention, most recently in Kampala, Uganda in May 2017. [6]

In December 2018, Liberia voted in favor of a UN General Assembly (UNGA) resolution that urges states outside the Convention on Cluster Munitions to “join as soon as possible.” [7] It has voted in favor of the annual UNGA resolution promoting the convention since it was first introduced in 2015.

Liberia has voted in favor of UNGA resolutions expressing outrage at the use of cluster munitions in Syria, most recently in December 2018. [8]

Liberia is a State Party to the Mine Ban Treaty. It is also party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons.

Use, production, transfer, and stockpiling

Liberia is not known to have used, produced, or transferred cluster munitions. In September 2011, Liberia stated that it never stockpiled cluster munitions. [9]



 [1] At that time, Liberia informed States Parties that the executive branch was working to ensure that the convention is ratified “before this administration leaves office in January of 2018.” Statement of Liberia, Convention on Cluster Munitions Seventh Meeting of States Parties, Geneva, 4 September 2017. Official audio recording, UN Digital Recordings Portal.

 [2] ICBL-CMC meeting with Stephen Zargo, Senator and Chairman of the State Committee on Defense and Security, and Michael Yorwah, Chairman of the Liberian Action Network on Small Arms, Liberia, Geneva, 24 August 2016.

 [3] Email from Teresa Dybeck, Programme Manager, Parliamentary Forum on Small Arms and Light Weapons, 27 July 2015.

 [4] In May 2013, it stated that a committee working on the ratification of the convention had been holding consultations. Statement of Liberia, Lomé Regional Seminar on the Universalization of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, Lomé, Togo, 22 May 2013. In September 2011, Liberia stated that the government has initiated consultations with relevant stakeholders on ratification of the convention. Statement of Liberia, Convention on Cluster Munitions Second Meeting of States Parties, Beirut, 14 September 2011.

 [5] For details on Liberia’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), p. 108.

 [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 2019. Liberia voted in favor of similar resolutions in 2013–2017.

 [9] Statement of Liberia, Convention on Cluster Munitions Third Meeting of States Parties, Oslo, 12 September 2013.