Benin
Cluster Munition Ban Policy
Ten-Year Review: State Party Benin ratified the convention in July 2017. It has participated in several meetings of the convention, most recently in September 2019, and voted in favor of a key United Nations (UN) resolution promoting the convention in December 2019.
Benin provided its initial transparency report for the convention in June 2019, which confirms it has never used, produced, transferred or stockpiled cluster munitions.
Policy
The Republic of Benin signed the convention on 3 December 2008, ratified on 10 July 2017, and the convention entered into force for Benin on 1 January 2018.
Benin provided its initial Article 7 transparency report for the convention on 20 June 2019.[1] According to the report, Benin has not undertaken any national implementation measures, such as legislation to enforce the convention’s provisions.[2]
Benin participated in the Oslo Process that created the Convention on Cluster Munitions and was a strong advocate for a comprehensive ban.[3]
Benin has attended most of the convention’s meetings, most recently the Ninth Meeting of States Parties in Geneva in September 2019.[4]
Benin voted in favor of a UN General Assembly (UNGA) resolution urging implementation of the convention in December 2019.[5] It has voted in favor of the annual UNGA resolution promoting the convention since it was first introduced in 2015.
Benin has also voted in favor of UNGA resolutions expressing outrage at the use of cluster munitions in Syria, most recently in December 2019.[6]
Benin has not elaborated its views on certain important issues relating to its interpretation and implementation of the convention, such as the prohibition on transit, the prohibition on assistance during joint military operations with states not party that may use cluster munitions, the prohibition on foreign stockpiling of cluster munitions, the prohibition on investment in production of cluster munitions, and the need for retention of cluster munitions for training and development purposes.
Benin is a State Party to the Mine Ban Treaty. It is also party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons.
Use, production, transfer, and stockpiling
Benin reported in June 2019 that it has never produced cluster munitions and does not stockpile them.[7] Previously, Benin said several times that it never used, produced, transferred of stockpiled cluster munitions.[8]
[1] The initial report was originally due by 30 June 2018. Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 7 report, 20 June 2019. As of 10 August 2020, Benin has not provided the annual updated report due by 30 April.
[2] The report states “not applicable” under national implementation measures required by Article 9. Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 7 Report, Form A, 20 June 2019.
[3] For details on Benin’s cluster munition policy and practice up to early 2009, see Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Landmine Action, Banning Cluster Munitions: Government Policy and Practice (Ottawa: Mines Action Canada, May 2009), pp. 42–43.
[4] Benin has attended every Meeting of States Parties of the convention, except in 2011, 2016, and 2018. It participated in the convention’s First Review Conference in 2015, intersessional meetings in 2011–2014, and several regional workshops on the convention.
[5] “Implementation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions,” UNGA Resolution 74/62, 12 December 2019.
[6] “Situation of human rights in the Syrian Arab Republic,” UNGA Resolution 74/169, 18 December 2019. Benin voted in favor of similar resolutions in 2013–2016 and 2018, but abstained from the vote in December 2017.
[7] Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 7 Report, 20 June 2019.
[8] Statement of Benin, Lomé Regional Seminar on the Universalization of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, Lomé, Togo, 22 May 2013. Notes by Action on Armed Violence (AOAV); and statement of Benin, Convention on Cluster Munitions Third Meeting of States Parties, Oslo, 12 September 2012.