Summary: Slovakia acceded to the convention on 24 July 2015 after implementing an action plan to join it. Slovakia has participated in the convention’s meetings, most recently in September 2018. It voted in favor of a key United Nations (UN) resolution promoting the convention in December 2018.

Slovakia is not known to have used cluster munitions, but it produced, imported, and exported them in the past. Slovakia has reported a total stockpile of 1,235 cluster munitions and 299,187 submunitions. Between 2015 and the end of 2018, Slovakia destroyed 643 cluster munitions and 33,398 submunitions. It is on track to complete destruction of the stockpile by its January 2024 deadline. Slovakia intends to destroy cluster munitions that it originally indicated would be retained for research and training purposes.

Policy

The Slovak Republic acceded to the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 24 July 2015 and became a State Party on 1 January 2016.

Slovakia has not enacted specific legislation to enforce its implementation of the convention’s provisions. It lists the Penal Code and various arms trafficking laws under relevant national implementation measures.[1]

Slovakia provided its initial Article 7 transparency measures report for the convention on 28 June 2016 and has submitted annual updates since then, most recently on 31 July 2019.[2]

Slovakia actively participated in the Oslo Process that led to the creation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions and joined the consensus adoption of the convention in Dublin in May 2008. However, it participated only as an observer at the convention’s Signing Conference in Oslo in December 2008.[3]

Slovakia acceded to the convention in July 2015 after implementing a November 2008 decree that established a process to develop an action plan for its accession.[4] Implementation of the action plan resulted in the 26 June 2015 adoption by its parliament—the National Council—of a resolution approving accession to the convention.

Prior to acceding, Slovakia participated as an observer in the convention’s meetings.[5] It attended the First Review Conference in Dubrovnik, Croatia in September 2015 as a State Party and has participated in subsequent meetings, most recently the Eighth Meeting of States Parties in Geneva in September 2018.

In December 2018, Slovakia voted in favor of a key UN General Assembly (UNGA) resolution that calls on states outside the Convention on Cluster Munitions to “join as soon as possible.”[6] Slovakia has voted in favor of the annual UNGA resolution promoting the convention since it was first introduced in 2015.

Slovakia has expressed deep concern at the reported use of cluster munitions in different parts of the world and called on all actors to refrain from such use.[7] Slovakia has voted in favor of UNGA and UN Human Rights Council (HRC) resolutions condemning the use of cluster munitions in Syria, most recently in March 2019.[8]

Slovakia has not elaborated its views on certain important issues related to the convention’s interpretation and implementation, such as the prohibitions on transit, assistance during joint military operations with states not party that may use cluster munitions, foreign stockpiling of cluster munitions, investment in production of cluster munitions, and on the retention of cluster munitions for training and development purposes.

Slovakia is a State Party to the Mine Ban Treaty. It is also a party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW).

Use

Before acceding to the convention, Slovakia stated several times that it never used cluster munitions.[9]

Production and transfer

Slovakia produced, exported, and imported cluster munitions in the past. In January 2014, it said it no longer produces cluster munitions and committed to no further production, while it disclosed in May 2010 its decision to not acquire cluster munitions anymore.[10]

ZVS Holding of Dubncia and Vahom was the country’s only producer of cluster munitions according to Slovakia’s action plan for accession to the convention.[11] The company manufactured two types of ground-fired cluster munitions.[12] Slovakia reported in June 2016 that the cluster munitions production line by the ZVS Holding Company was converted in 2010 to produce unitary munitions.[13]

Slovakia last exported cluster munitions in February 2010. ZVS Holding produced 8,680 122mm AGAT rockets for sale to Turkey and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in 1998–2010, and 602 cluster munitions for Slovakia’s Ministry of Defense in 1998–2001.[14]

In the past, Slovakia imported M26 rockets from Germany.[15]

Stockpiling and destruction

Slovakia once possessed a stockpile of 1,235 cluster munitions and 299,187 submunitions, as shown in the following table. All cluster munitions have been withdrawn from operational stocks.

Cluster munitions once stockpiled by Slovakia[16]

Stockpile destruction

Under Article 3 of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, Slovakia is required to destroy all stockpiled cluster munitions under its jurisdiction or control as soon as possible, but no later than 1 January 2024.

Slovakia has committed to destroy the stockpile “using its own capacities” and “fulfill all the requirements of the Convention within the given timeframe.”[17] The 2014 action plan identified 2023 as the year to complete destruction of the stockpile.[18]

As of 31 December 2018, Slovakia has destroyed a total of 643 cluster munitions and 33,398 submunitions, as listed in the following table. This represents more than half of its total declared holdings of cluster munitions and 11% of the submunitions.

Cluster munitions destroyed by Slovakia[19]

Slovakia destroyed 163 cluster munitions and 11,666 submunitions before the convention’s entry into force for the country on 1 January 2016 and 480 cluster munitions and 21,732 submunitions in the period since then, including 226 cluster munitions and 12,688 submunitions in 2018.

Cluster munitions destroyed by Slovakia in 2018[20]

Slovakia is destroying the stockpile by open detonation at the Novarky explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) training area and Kuchyna firing range. It has provided a technical data sheet with its transparency report detailing the destruction process.

In June 2017, Slovakia estimated the cost to destroy the stockpiled cluster munitions at €100,000 (€30,000 for the development of destruction techniques and €70,000 to destroy the stockpile). The 2014 action plan estimated the cost for stockpile destruction and related accession costs at €5.5 million (US$6.2 million).[21]

Retention

Slovakia has retained five M26 rockets and 3,220 M77 DPICM submunitions for the development of stockpile destruction techniques at the Zahorie Military Technical and Testing Institute. In June 2016, it reported that one M26 rocket was destroyed in the course of developing “render safe procedures and testing of the environmental impact of destruction.”[22] Initially, in 2015, Slovakia informed States Parties that it, “does not intend to keep any submunitions and we plan to destroy all our stockpiles.”[23]

However, in 2017, Slovakia told States Parties about “technical difficulties concerning environmental impacts” involved in the destruction process for its MLRS M26 rocket launchers. Slovakia said it was working to find “viable solutions and…international assistance” to complete its destruction of the rockets.[24]