Nepal
Cluster Munition Ban Policy
Summary: Non-signatory Nepal has not taken any steps to accede to the Convention on Cluster Munitions, but officials have expressed interest in pursuing this goal. Nepal again changed its position by abstaining from voting on the United Nations (UN) resolution promoting the convention in December 2018, after voting in favor in 2017.
Nepal states that it has never used, produced, or transferred cluster munitions and possesses no stockpiles.
Policy
The Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal has not acceded to the Convention on Cluster Munitions.
Nepal has never elaborated its position on joining the convention. [1] Officials have regularly met with campaigners urging the government to review its policy on the convention and take steps for Nepal to accede without delay. [2]
Nepal participated in two meetings of the Oslo Process that created the convention, in Vienna in December 2007 and Wellington in February 2008, but it did not attend the Dublin negotiations in May 2008.
Nepal participated as an observer in the convention’s Fourth Meeting of States Parties in Lusaka, Zambia in September 2013, but did not make a statement. This was Nepal’s first and to date only participation in a meeting of the convention.
In December 2018, Nepal abstained from voting on a UN General Assembly (UNGA) resolution that urges states outside the Convention on Cluster Munitions to “join as soon as possible.” [3] Nepal voted in favor of the annual UNGA resolution promoting implementation in 2017, after abstaining from the vote in 2016 and 2015.
The Cluster Munition Coalition’s (CMC) national partner, the Nepal Campaign to Ban Landmines (NCBL), continues its outreach in support of the convention. [4]
Nepal is not party to the Mine Ban Treaty. Nor is it party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons.
Use, production, transfer, and stockpiling
Nepal has stated that it has never used, produced, or transferred cluster munitions and does not possess any stocks. [5]
[1] In 2013, a government representative told the Cluster Munition Coalition (CMC) that Nepal was interested in the convention, but had other priorities. CMC meeting with the delegation of Nepal, UN First Committee on Disarmament and International Security, 23 October 2013. Previously, in 2009, the Minister of Peace and Reconstruction told the CMC that there were no issues preventing the government from acceding. Nepal Campaign to Ban Landmines (NCBL) and CMC interview with Rakam Chemjong, Minister for Peace and Reconstruction, in Cartagena, 3 December 2009.
[2] On 13 July 2017, Nepal’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Krishna Bahadur Mahara met with representatives of the NCBL, who called on the government to approve accession to the Convention on Cluster Munitions. Email from Purna Shova Chitrakar, Coordinator, NCBL, 13 July 2017.
[3] “Implementation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions,” UNGA Resolution 73/54, 5 December 2018.
[4] On 28 November 2018, the NCBL participated in a panel discussion on the Convention on Cluster Munitions together with the Nepal Army, police, and government ministries. See, NCBL, “A discussion program on Sustainable Peace,” 22 November 2018.
[5] Letter No. GE/2010/577 from Hari Pd. Odari, Second Secretary, Permanent Mission of Nepal to the UN in Geneva, 21 June 2010; and NCBL and CMC interview with Rakam Chemjong, Minister for Peace and Reconstruction, in Cartagena, 3 December 2009.