Botswana

Cluster Munition Ban Policy

Last updated: 01 October 2020

Ten-Year Review: State Party Botswana ratified the convention on 27 June 2011. It has participated in meetings of the convention, most recently in September 2019. Botswana voted in favor of a key United Nations (UN) resolution promoting the convention in December 2019.

Botswana reports that it has never used or produced cluster munitions. Botswana destroyed its entire stockpile of 510 cluster munitions and 14,400 submunitions on 18 September 2018.

Policy

The Republic of Botswana signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 3 December 2008 and ratified it on 27 June 2011. The convention entered into force for the country on 1 December 2011.

Since 2017, Botswana has reported that it is in the process of drafting implementing legislation for the convention.[1] Before that, Botswana reported that consultations were underway to consider implementation measures needed for the convention.[2]

Botswana submitted its initial Article 7 transparency report for the Convention on Cluster Munitions in August 2012.[3] It has since provided annual updates, most recently in June 2019.[4]

Botswana participated in the Oslo Process that created the Convention on Cluster Munitions and sought a comprehensive and immediate ban during the formal negotiations in Dublin in May 2008.[5]

Botswana has participated in meetings of the convention, most recently the Ninth Meeting of States Parties in Geneva in September 2019.[6]

In December 2019, Botswana voted in favor of a key UN General Assembly (UNGA) resolution on the implementation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions.[7] Botswana has voted in favor of the annual resolution promoting the convention since it was first introduced in 2015.

Botswana has also voted in favor of UNGA resolutions expressing outrage at the use of cluster munitions in Syria, most recently in December 2019.[8]

Botswana has not elaborated its views on certain important issues relating to the convention’s interpretation and implementation, 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.

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

Use, production, and transfer

Botswana declared in its initial Article 7 transparency report, submitted in August 2012, that it has “never produced cluster munitions” and has no production facilities.[9] The report also confirmed that Botswana has never used cluster munitions.[10]

Stockpile destruction

Botswana declared a stockpile of 510 cluster munitions of two types, and 14,400 submunitions:

  • 500 M971 mortar projectiles, each containing 24 M87 submunitions, totaling 12,000; and
  • 10 CBU-250K air-dropped bombs, each containing 240 PM-1 submunitions, totaling 2,400.

Under Article 3 of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, Botswana was required to destroy all its stockpiled cluster munitions as soon as possible, but not later than 1 December 2019. It completed the destruction more than one year in advance of the deadline, on 18 September 2018.

The convention’s then-president, Ambassador Aliyar Lebbe Abdul Azeez of Sri Lanka, commended Botswana on meeting its Article 3 obligations and urged all States Parties with obligations and requiring assistance to “emulate this best practice.”[11]

The Botswana Defense Forces developed a plan to destroy the stockpile together with technical advisors from Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA).[12] Botswana had reported to States Parties on 3 September 2018 that it planned to destroy the stockpile during the last quarter of 2018.[13] The entire stockpile was destroyed by open detonation, in the Taukgolo Ranges, on 18 September 2018.[14]

Botswana reports that it has not retained any cluster munitions for research and training purposes.[15]



[1] Botswana provided the same information concerning national implementation measures in 2017 and 2018. Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 7 Report, Form A, 13 June 2018; Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 7 Report, Form A, 7 May 2018; and Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 7 Report, Form A, 30 April 2017.

[2] In 2012, Botswana reported that it was holding consultations on the matter of implementation legislation for the convention. See, Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 7 Report, Form A, 31 August 2012. In 2017, Botswana said its Cabinet had provided the National Assembly with a memorandum on national implementation measures as part of a process to move forward on implementing legislation to enforce the convention’s provisions. Statement of Botswana, Convention on Cluster Munitions Seventh Meeting of States Parties, Geneva, 4 September 2017.

[3] The initial report covered the period to 29 May 2012, while the annual reports cover the previous calendar year.

[4] As of October 2020, Botswana had not provided an updated report for calendar year 2019, which was due by 30 April. The UN received Botswana’s most recent report on 13 June 2019, although it is dated 31 December 2018 and covers the calendar year 2018. Botswana also provided annual updates in 2014 and in 2016–2018.

[5] For details on Botswana’s policy and practice regarding cluster munitions through early 2009, see Human Rights Watch and Landmine Action, Banning Cluster Munitions: Government Policy and Practice (Ottawa: Mines Action Canada, May 2009), pp. 45–46.

[6] Botswana also attended the convention’s Meetings of States Parties in 2010 and 2016–2018. Botswana has also attended regional workshops on cluster munitions.

[7]Implementation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions,” UN General Assembly (UNGA) Resolution 74/62, 12 December 2019.

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

[9] Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 7 Report, Forms D and E, 31 August 2012. Botswana has repeated this status in its subsequent Article 7 reports.

[10] According to the report, “Botswana has never fired any of the cluster munitions.” Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 7 Report, Form F, 31 August 2012.

[12] Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 7 Report, Form B, 7 May 2018; and email from Hans Risser, Head of Operations, Department for Humanitarian Disarmament, NPA, 30 July 2018.

[13] Statement of Botswana, Convention on Cluster Munitions Eighth Meeting of States Parties, Geneva, 3 September 2018.


Mine Ban Policy

Last updated: 13 November 2019

Policy

The Republic of Botswana signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 3 December 1997 and ratified on 1 March 2000, becoming a State Party on 1 September 2000. Legislation to enforce the antipersonnel mine prohibition domestically has not yet been enacted.

Botswana has attended some meetings of the treaty, including the Seventeenth Meeting of States Parties in Geneva in November 2018. Botswana did not attend the Third Review Conference in Maputo in June 2014. More recently, it also did not attend the intersessional meetings in Geneva in May 2019. Botswana submitted its initial Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 report on 28 September 2001, and did not submit an updated report until April 2018.

Botswana is not party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons. Botswana is party to the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

Use, production, stockpiling, and transfer

Botswana has never used, produced, or exported antipersonnel mines. In 2001, Botswana reported retaining seven inert antipersonnel mines and three antivehicle mines for training purposes. In April 2018, Botswana reported holding 1,102 antipersonnel mines for training and research, possessed by the Botswana Defence Force (425 blast mines and 677 fragmentation mines). It did not provide any information regarding the origins of the mines or how long it possessed them.[1]

During the Rhodesian war, landmines were planted in northern Botswana, including RAP1, RAP2 and Shrapnel No. 2 mines of Rhodesian origin.[2] However, no known incidents have occurred since 1980 and all mines have reportedly been cleared.



[1] Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 Report, Form D, 2018. Botswana provided the same information in its report submitted in April 2019.

[2] Human Rights Watch, Still Killing, p.59.