Ten-Year Review: Non-signatory Latvia has not taken any steps to accede to the Convention on Cluster Munitions. It has never participated in a meeting of the convention, even as an observer. Latvia has consistently abstained from voting on an annual United Nations (UN) resolution promoting the convention since the first resolution was introduced in 2015.

Latvia states that it has never used, produced, stockpiled, or transferred cluster munitions and says it is in de facto compliance with the convention.

Policy

The Republic of Latvia has not acceded to the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

Latvia says it is in de facto compliance with the convention’s provisions, but it has not taken any steps to accede. There were no changes in the government’s position on accession to the convention in 2019 or the first half of 2020.

In July 2018, Minister of Foreign Affairs Edgars Rinkēvičs remarked that Latvia “fully shares the concerns” over the “indiscriminate use of certain cluster munitions” and “supports the objectives” of the convention.[1] Latvia said inDecember 2016 that humanitarian concerns raised by cluster munitions must be balanced with “security concerns and strategic defense considerations.”[2]

Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials have responded to requests by Cluster Munition Monitor for updates since 2010.[3] In May 2017, Latvia told the Monitor that its position on accession “has not changed” and said it is committed to “act in line” with the convention’s provisions.[4]

Latvia participated as an observer in a couple of meetings of the Oslo Process that created the convention, including the Dublin negotiations in May 2008 and the Oslo Signing Conference in December 2008.[5]

Latvia has never participated in a meeting of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, even as an observer. It was invited, but did not attend, the Ninth Meeting of States Parties in Geneva in September 2019.

In December 2019, Latvia abstained from the vote on a UN General Assembly (UNGA) resolution urging states outside the convention to “join as soon as possible.”[6] Latvia has abstained from voting on the UNGA resolution promoting the convention since it was first introduced in 2015 and provided an explanation of its vote against the resolution in 2016.

Latvia has voted in favor of Human Rights Council resolutions condemning the use of cluster munitions in Syria.[7] It has also voted in favor of UNGA resolutions expressing outrage at the use of cluster munitions in Syria, most recently in December 2019.[8]

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

Use, production, transfer, and stockpiling

In July 2018, Minister of Foreign Affairs stated that “Latvia neither produces nor possesses cluster munitions, nor does it store or use them.’’ He added that ‘‘Latvia currently has no plans to acquire or use this type of munitions in future.”[9] Latvia has repeated on several occasions that it has never used, produced, stockpiled, or transferred cluster munitions.[10]

Latvia has often stated that it is committed “to act in line” with the provisions of the Convention on Cluster Munitions and claims it is de facto compliant.[11]