Policy

The Republic of Cuba has not acceded to the Mine Ban Treaty.

In November 2014, Cuba stated that it fully shares the genuine humanitarian concerns relating to the indiscriminate use of antipersonnel landmines.[1] However, its policy on accession to the Mine Ban Treaty has not evolved in recent years.

By comparison, Cuba acceded to the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 6 April 2016.[2] It previously objected to the way in which the Convention on Cluster Munitions, like the Mine Ban Treaty, was concluded outside of UN auspices. Cuba also expressed concern with certain provisions, such as the definition of cluster munitions and “interoperability” provisions contained in Article 21 on relations with states not party to the convention.

In 2009, Cuba told States Parties that antipersonnel mines were an important part of its defense strategy and that its mines emplaced around Guantanamo Bay were only for territorial defense and security.[3] In 2009, Cuba expressed support for the humanitarian aspects of the Mine Ban Treaty, but said it would only be able to consider a change in policy if the United States (US) were to sign a peace agreement or non-aggression agreement with Cuba.[4] In 2010, Cuba stated that it could not renounce the use of mines for the preservation of sovereignty and territorial integrity, due to “continuous hostility and aggression by the military superpower.”[5]

Cuba participated as an observer in the treaty’s First Review Conference in 2004 and Second Review Conference in 2009, but was absent from the Third Review Conference held in Maputo, Mozambique, in June 2014. It attended the first four annual Meetings of States Parties of the treaty, but has not participated in any since the Seventh Meeting of States Parties in 2006. It was invited to, but did not participate in the Mine Ban Treaty’s Seventeenth Meeting of States Parties in Geneva in November 2018.

Cuba participated in every meeting of the treaty’s intersessional Standing Committee until 2003, but has attended few intersessional meetings since then.

On 5 December 2018, Cuba abstained from voting on UN General Assembly (UNGA) Resolution 73/61 calling for universalization and full implementation of the Mine Ban Treaty, as it has done in previous years.[6]

Cuba is party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) including its Protocol II on landmines. Cuba has not ratified the CCW’s Amended Protocol II on landmines but states that it complies with its requirements.[7]

Use, production, transfer, and stockpiling

Cuba has declined to provide information about its mine use, production, transfer, and stockpiling.[8] Cuba has also said it carries out “a strict policy with regard to guaranteeing a responsible use of antipersonnel mines with an exclusively defensive character and for [Cuba’s] national security.”[9]

In the absence of any denial or clarification from the government, Cuba’s state-owned Union of Military Industries (Unión de las Industrias Militares) is believed to continue to produce antipersonnel mines.[10] Since 1996, Cuba has stated on several occasions that it does not and has never exported antipersonnel mines.[11] There is no official information available on the size and composition of Cuba’s stockpile of antipersonnel mines.[12]