Ten-Year Review: State Party Rwanda ratified the convention on 25 August 2015. It has condemned the use of cluster munitions, and voted in favor of a key annual United Nations (UN) resolution promoting the convention in December 2019. Rwanda has participated in one meeting of the convention.

Rwanda states that it has never used, produced, transferred, or stockpiled cluster munitions, but must submit a transparency report for the convention to formally confirm its cluster munition-free status.

Policy

The Republic of Rwanda signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 3 December 2008 and ratified it on 25 August 2015. The convention entered into force for the country on 1 February 2016.

Rwanda has not enacted implementing legislation for the Convention on Cluster Munitions.[1]

As of August 2020, Rwanda had not provided its initial Article 7 transparency report for the convention, which was originally due by 31 July 2016. Timely submission of this report is a legal obligation.[2]

Rwanda attended one regional meeting of the Oslo Process, in Kampala, Uganda in September 2008 after the Convention on Cluster Munitions was adopted, and signed the convention in Oslo in December 2008.[3]

Rwanda attended the convention’s Third Meeting of the States Parties in Oslo in September 2012. This marked the first and, to date, the only time that Rwanda has participated in a meeting of the convention.

In December 2019, Rwanda voted in favor of a key UN General Assembly (UNGA) resolution promoting implementation of the convention, which urges States Parties to provide “complete and timely information” to promote transparency and compliance with the convention.[4] Rwanda voted in favor of previous UNGA resolutions promoting the convention in 2015 and 2017–2018.

Rwanda expressed concern in 2014 at the “reported use of cluster munitions” in Ukraine.[5] It voted in favor of a 2014 UN Security Council resolution that expressed concern at the “indiscriminate” use of cluster munitions in South Sudan.[6] Rwanda has also voted in favor of Human Rights Council and UNGA resolutions condemning the use of cluster munitions in Syria, most recently in December 2019.[7]

Rwanda has not elaborated its views on certain important issues related to interpretation and implementation of the convention, such as the prohibition on transit, the prohibition on assistance during joint military operations with non-party states 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.

Rwanda is a State Party to the Mine Ban Treaty. It is not party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons.

Use, production, transfer, and stockpiling

Rwanda stated in 2008 that it does not use, produce, transfer, or stockpile cluster munitions.[8] It must submit a transparency report for the convention to formally confirm this cluster munition-free status.