Namibia
Cluster Munition Ban Policy
Summary: Namibia ratified the convention on 31 August 2018. Namibia has participated in every Meeting of States Parties of the convention and it has condemned new use of cluster munitions. It voted in favor of a key United Nations (UN) resolution on the convention in December 2018. Namibia states that it has never used, produced, transferred, or stockpiled cluster munitions.
Policy
The Republic of Namibia signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 3 December 2008, ratified on 31 August 2018, and the convention entered into force for the country on 1 February 2019.
Namibia has not indicated if it will enact national legislation or other measures to enforce its implementation of the convention.
Namibia must provide an initial Article 7 transparency report for the convention no later than 31 July 2019.
Prior to ratifying, Namibia often signaled its intent to ratify the ban convention as soon as possible. [1] The government approved ratification on 3 July 2018 in line with Article 63 (2)(e) of the country’s constitution. Namibia deposited the ratification instrument on the eve of the convention’s Eighth Meeting of States Parties, making it the 104th State Party.
Namibia participated in two Africa regional meetings held during the Oslo Process that produced the Convention on Cluster Munitions. [2]
Namibia has attended every Meeting of States Parties of the convention, most recently the Eighth Meeting of States Parties in September 2018, where it announced the ratification. [3]
In December 2018, Namibia 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.” [4] It has voted in favor of the annual UNGA resolution promoting the convention since it was introduced in 2015.
Namibia has condemned new use of cluster munitions, expressing “abhorrence and strong disapproval” of the use of cluster munitions in conflict zones around the world. [5]
Namibia is a State Party to the Mine Ban Treaty. It is not party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons.
Use, production, transfer, and stockpiling
Namibia has stated several times since 2008 that it has not used, produced, or transferred cluster munitions and does not stockpile the weapon. [6] It must provide a transparency report for the convention to formally confirm this cluster munition-free status.
[1] See, for example, statement of Namibia, Convention on Cluster Munitions Sixth Meeting of States Parties, Geneva, 6 September 2016; statement of Namibia, Convention on Cluster Munitions Fifth Meeting of States Parties, San Jose, 5 September 2014; statement of Namibia, Convention on Cluster Munitions Intersessional Meetings, Geneva, April 2014; statement of Namibia, Convention on Cluster Munitions Fourth Meeting of States Parties, Lusaka, 9 September 2013. Notes by the Cluster Munition Coalition (CMC); and CMC meeting with the Namibian delegate, International Conference on the Convention on Cluster Munitions, Santiago, 7–9 June 2010. Notes by the CMC.
[2] For details on Namibia’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. 123.
[3] Statement of Namibia, Convention on Cluster Munitions Eighth Meeting of States Parties, Geneva, 3 September 2018. Namibia also attended intersessional meetings in 2013–2015 and was invited to, but did not attend, the First Review Conference in September 2015. Namibia also attended regional workshops on the convention, most recently in Kampala, Uganda in May 2017.
[4] “Implementation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions,” UNGA Resolution 73/54, 5 December 2018.
[5] Statement of Namibia, Convention on Cluster Munitions Fifth Meeting of States Parties, San Jose, 3 September 2014.
[6] See, for example, statement of Namibia, Opening Ceremony, Convention on Cluster Munitions Fourth Meeting of States Parties, Lusaka, 9 September 2013; statement of Namibia, Kampala Conference on the Convention on Cluster Munitions, 30 September 2008. Notes by the CMC; and statement of Namibia, Convention on Cluster Munitions Third Meeting of States Parties, Oslo, 13 September 2012. Namibia is reported to possess Grad 122mm surface-to-surface rockets, but it is not known if these include versions with submunition payloads. International Institute for Strategic Studies, The Military Balance 2011 (London: Routledge, 2011), p. 434.