Latvia

Cluster Munition Ban Policy

Last updated: 04 September 2020

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]



[1] Letter No. 32-1892 from Edgars Rinkēvičs, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Latvia, 20 July 2018.

[2] Latvia, Explanation of vote on United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) Resolution 71/45, UNGA, New York, 5 December 2016.

[3] Emails from Martins Pundors, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 19 May 2014, and 30 July 2013; Letter No. 32/63-1434 from Amb. Baiba Braže, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 11 April 2012; email from Ieva Jirgensone, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 14 April 2011; and Letter No. 32/112-1697 from Kaspars Ozolins, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 23 April 2010.

[4] Letter No. 32-11923 from Amb. Ingrida Levernce, Director-General of Security Policy and International Organisations Directorate, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to Mary Wareham, Human Rights Watch (HRW), 11 May 2017.

[5] For details on Latvia’s cluster munition policy and practice through early 2010, see ICBL, Cluster Munition Monitor 2010 (Ottawa: Mines Action Canada, October 2010), pp. 225–226.

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

[7]The human rights situation in the Syrian Arab Republic,” Human Rights Council Resolution 36/20, 29 September 2017. It voted in favor of similar HRC resolutions in 2014–2016.

[8]Situation of human rights in the Syrian Arab Republic,” UNGA Resolution 74/169, 18 December 2019. Latvia voted in favor of similar UNGA resolutions in 2013–2018.

[9] Letter No. 32-1892 from Edgars Rinkēvičs, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Latvia, 20 July 2018.

[10] Latvia has stated that it ‘‘neither produces nor possesses cluster munitions nor do we store or use them,” Explanation of Vote by Latvia, UNGA First Committee on Disarmament and International Security, New York, 4 November 2015. See also, Letter No. 32/202-2010 from Amb. Baiba Braže, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to Mary Wareham, HRW, 11 May 2015; email from Martins Pundors, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 30 July 2013; Letter No. 32/112-1697 from Kaspars Ozolins, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 23 April 2010; and email from Ieva Jirgensone, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 14 April 2011.

[11] In a May 2015 letter, a Ministry of Foreign Affairs official reiterated Latvia’s “firm support” for the convention and said the country “de-facto complies” with the convention’s provisions. Letter No. 32/202-2010 from Amb. Baiba Braže, Director-General of Security Policy and International Organisations Directorate, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to Mary Wareham, HRW, 11 May 2015. See also, Latvia, Explanation of vote on UNGA Resolution 71/45, UNGA, New York, 5 December 2016.


Mine Ban Policy

Last updated: 18 December 2019

Policy

The Republic of Latvia acceded to the Mine Ban Treaty on 1 July 2005, becoming a State Party on 1 January 2006. Latvia has not enacted new legislation specifically to implement the Mine Ban Treaty, but has detailed a number of national implementation measures.[1]

Latvia has attended most meetings of the treaty since becoming a State Party, most recently the Seventeenth Meeting of States Parties in Geneva in November 2018, where it provided a statement on Article 5 extension requests. Latvia also attended the intersessional meetings in Geneva in May 2019. However, Latvia did not attend the Third Review Conference in Maputo in June 2014.

Latvia consistently submits annual Article 7 transparency reports. Before adhering to the treaty, Latvia submitted three voluntary reports.[2]

Latvia is party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons and its Amended Protocol II on landmines and Protocol V on explosive remnants of war. Latvia is not a state party to the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

Production, transfer, stockpiling, and retention

Latvia did not produce or export antipersonnel mines in the past, but inherited a small stockpile of Soviet antipersonnel mines. Latvia completed destruction of its stockpile of 2,490 PMN-2 mines on 2 August 2006.[3] Latvia’s reporting on its stockpile had been inconsistent. Over the years, it had declared its stockpile to consist of between 0 and 4,666 of six types of antipersonnel mines.[4]

In 2011, Latvia reported that it does not retain any mines for training, and that “APMs retained for training were destroyed in 2010.”[5] It indicated that the PMN-2 and OZM-4 mines were disposed of by detonation.



[1] In its Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 report for 2007, Latvia for the first time included details about national implementation measures in accordance with Article 9 of the treaty. The report lists four measures. The four measures are: (1) Law on the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and their Destruction, which is the law authorizing accession to the treaty; (2) Cabinet of Ministers Regulations No. 645 of 25 September 2007 on the List of National Strategic Goods and Services, which prohibits export and transit of antipersonnel mines; (3) The Code for Administrative Violations, which lays down liability for violations of circulation, manufacturing, storage and use of strategic goods and arms and explosive devices as well as their export, import and transfer; and (4) The Criminal Law, which provides for liability in case of smuggling explosive devices. Section XX of the Criminal Law stipulates punishment for unauthorized manufacture, acquisition, storage and sale as well as transportation and conveyance of weapons and explosives. Latvia had in the past only reported its Law on the Circulation of Arms prohibiting the export and transit of antipersonnel mines. Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 Report (for calendar year 2007), Form A.

[2] It submitted voluntary reports on 16 June 2005, 14 May 2004 and 1 May 2003.

[3] Statement of Latvia, Seventh Meeting of States Parties, Mine Ban Treaty, Geneva, 20 September 2006.

[4] See, Landmine Monitor Report 2005, p. 403. Also, in its four formal Article 7 reports, Latvia did not include in its stockpile the MON-50, MON-100, MON-200, and “Defense Charge-21” Claymore-type directional fragmentation mines listed in its previous voluntary reports. It has stated “they are defence charge and not observed by the Ottawa Convention. Latvia is committed not to use them as APM.” Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 Report, Form B, 28 April 2006. Use of Claymore-type mines in command-detonated mode is permissible under the Mine Ban Treaty, but use in victim-activated mode (with tripwires) is prohibited. The ICBL has urged States Parties to report on steps taken to ensure that these types of mines can only be used in command-detonated mode.

[5] Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 Report (for period 01 January 2010 to 31 December 2010), Form D, Form G. In the report, Latvia indicated that the PMN-2 and OZM-4 mines were disposed of by detonation. However, it did not explain the decrease in the number of mines retained from 2009 to 2010. Previously, in its Article 7 report submitted in 2010 (for calendar year 2009), Latvia recorded 118 mines retained for training, and it noted “781 paces [sic] of bounding mines OZM-4 were destroyed as part of training and demilitarization.”