Bangladesh

Cluster Munition Ban Policy

Last updated: 04 September 2020

Ten-Year Review: Non-signatory Bangladesh expressed interest in joining the convention in September 2019. Before then it had not taken any steps to accede, but participated as an observer in meetings of the convention. It has also voted in favor of an annual United Nations (UN) resolution promoting the convention since 2015.

Bangladesh said in 2019 that it does not use, produce, transfer or possess a stockpile of cluster munitions.

Policy

The People’s Republic of Bangladesh has not acceded to the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

In September 2019, Bangladesh told the convention’s States Parties that it is “actively considering signing the ban treaty on cluster munitions following required protocol in due course of time.”[1] Previously, various officials from Bangladesh have expressed interest in the Convention on Cluster Munitions, but no steps have been taken to accede.

Bangladesh participated in several meetings of the Oslo Process that created the convention, but not the formal negotiations in Dublin in May 2008.[2] Bangladesh attended a regional conference on the convention in Bali, Indonesia in November 2009.

Bangladesh has participated as an observer in several meetings of the convention. At the Ninth Meeting of States Parties in Geneva in September 2019, Bangladesh expressed support for the convention’s goals and announced it is considering acceding.[3] Bangladesh has attended regional workshop on the convention, most recently in Manila, Philippines on 18–19 June 2019.[4]

In December 2019, Bangladesh voted in favor of a UN General Assembly (UNGA) resolution urging states outside the Convention on Cluster Munitions to “join as soon as possible.”[5] It has voted for the annual UNGA resolution promoting the convention since it was first introduced in 2015.

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

Use, production, transfer, and stockpiling

Bangladesh stated in September 2019 that it does not produce, export, or stockpile cluster munitions.[6] Previously in 2013, a representative of Bangladesh’s armed forces told the Cluster Munitions Coalition (CMC) that Bangladesh does not possess cluster munitions.[7]



[1] Statement of Bangladesh, Convention on Cluster Munitions Ninth Meeting of States Parties, Geneva, 2 September 2019. This marked the first time that Bangladesh elaborated its views on the convention, but officials had previously discussed the country’s views with the Cluster Munition Coalition (CMC) on many occasions. Cluster Munition Monitor interviews with Faiyaz Murshid Kazi, Counsellor, Permanent Mission of Bangladesh to the UN in New York, New York, 13 and 16 October 2017; CMC meeting with Toufiq Islam Shatil, Counsellor, Permanent Mission of Bangladesh to the UN in Geneva, Geneva, 6 September 2016; and meeting with Sarwar Mahmood, Counselor, Permanent Mission of Bangladeshto the UN in New York, New York, 19 October 2010. Notes by the CMC.

[2] For more information on Bangladesh’s policy and practice regarding cluster munitions through early 2010, see ICBL, Cluster Munition Monitor 2010 (Ottawa: Mines Action Canada, October 2010), p. 196.

[3] Statement of Bangladesh, Convention on Cluster Munitions Ninth Meeting of States Parties, Geneva, 2 September 2019. Bangladesh attended the convention’s Meetings of States Parties in 2013 and 2014, and intersessional meetings in 2011 and 2014. It did not participate in the First Review Conference in Dubrovnik, Croatia in September 2015.

[4]Asia-Pacific Workshop on CCM Universalization,” Convention on Cluster Munitions Quarterly Newsletter, April 2019.

[5]Implementation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions,” UNGA Resolution 74/62, 12 December 2019.

[6] Statement of Bangladesh, Convention on Cluster Munitions Ninth Meeting of States Parties, Geneva, 2 September 2019.

[7] CMC interview with Muhammad Golam Sarowar, Armed Forces Division, Armed Forces of Bangladesh, in Lusaka, 12 September 2013. Notes by the CMC.