Ten-Year Review: State Party Cuba acceded to the convention in April 2016. It has participated in meetings of the convention, most recently in September 2019, and voted in favor of a key United Nations (UN) resolution promoting the convention in December 2019.

Cuba submitted its initial transparency report for the convention in March 2018, which states that it never produced cluster munitions, but imported them and destroyed a stockpile of 1,856 cluster munitions in 2017. Cuba has not retained any cluster munitions for research or training purposes.

Policy

The Republic of Cuba acceded to the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 6 April 2016 and the convention entered into force for the country on 1 October 2016.

Cuba has reported certain provisions of its Penal Code and three other laws under relevant national implementation measures for the convention.[1] Since 2016, Cuba has often said that it is applying the convention’s provisions.[2]

Cuba submitted an initial Article 7 transparency report for the convention on 30 March 2017 and it has provided annual updates since then, most recently in April 2020.[3]

Cuba did not participate in the Oslo Process that created the Convention on Cluster Munitions, but it attended some of the convention’s meetings as an observer.

Before its accession, Cuba participated as an observer in several meetings of the convention and often acknowledged the humanitarian rational of banning cluster munitions.[4] Cuba gave no indication that it was considering joining the convention until the First Review Conference in September 2015, where it announced its intent to accede.[5]

Cuba has participated in every meeting of the convention since 2016, most recently the Ninth Meeting of States Parties in Geneva in September 2019, where it condemned new use of cluster munitions.[6]

Months before it acceded, Cuba voted in favor of a UN General Assembly (UNGA) resolution in December 2015, which urged states outside the Convention on Cluster Munitions to “join as soon as possible.”[7] Cuba has vote in favor of the annual UNGA resolution promoting the convention since then, most recently in December 2019.[8]

Before joining, Cuba raised concern over certain provisions of the convention, including definitions and Article 21 on relations with states not party to the convention.[9] Since joining, it has not commented on certain important issues relating to the convention’s interpretation and implementation such as the prohibitions on transit, foreign stockpiling, and investment in production.

Cuba is not party to the Mine Ban Treaty. It is party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons.

Use, production, and transfer

Cuba reports that it has never produced cluster munitions, but it acquired and stockpiled them.[10] Cuba is not known to have used or exported cluster munitions.

Stockpiling and destruction

Cuba declared a stockpile of 1,856 cluster munitions in March 2017, but it did not specify the quantity of submunitions they contained. The cluster munitions were manufactured in the Soviet Union and included air-dropped bombs as well as cartridges for KMGU submunition dispensers.[11]

Cluster munitions once stockpiled by Cuba[12]

Under Article 3 of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, Cuba was required to destroy all stockpiled cluster munitions under its jurisdiction and control as soon as possible, but not later than 1 October 2026.

In April 2018, Cuba reported that the cluster munition stocks were destroyed by open detonation during 2017 and said it no longer possesses any stockpiled cluster munitions.[13]

Cuba is not retaining any cluster munitions for research or training purposes.[14]

Policy

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

Cuba has stated that it fully shares the humanitarian concerns created by antipersonnel landmines, but has not taken any steps towards accession to the Mine Ban Treaty.[1] Cuba, however, acceded to the Convention on Cluster Munitions in April 2016.[2]

Cuban officials have said that the country cannot consider joining the Mine Ban Treaty until a peace agreement is signed with the United States (US).[3] Cuba has said that it cannot renounce the use of mines due to “continuous hostility and aggression by the military superpower.”[4] In 2009, Cuba told States Parties that antipersonnel mines formed an important part of its defense strategy, and said that it had emplaced mines around Guantanamo Bay for its territorial defense and security.[5]

Cuba participated as an observer in most meetings of the 1996–1997 Ottawa Process that created the Mine Ban Treaty, but warned that its presence “should not be interpreted as acceptance of the objectives of the process.”[6] Cuba has participated as an observer in meetings of the treaty since then, but not for more than a decade.[7] It was invited, but did not attend, the Mine Ban Treaty’s Eighteenth Meeting of States Parties in November 2020.

On 7 December 2020, Cuba abstained from voting on United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) Resolution 75/52 calling for universalization and full implementation of the Mine Ban Treaty, as it has done in previous years.[8]

Cuba is party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW), including Protocol II on landmines, but has not ratified the Amended Protocol II on landmines.[9]

Use, production, transfer, and stockpiling

Cuba has not shared information on its landmine use, production, transfer, and stockpiling.[10] In 2007, Cuba said has “a strict policy with regard to guaranteeing a responsible use of antipersonnel mines with an exclusively defensive character and for [Cuba’s] national security.”[11]

In the absence of any denial or clarification from the government, Cuba’s state-owned Union of Military Industries (Unión de las Industrias Militares, UIM) is believed to continue to produce antipersonnel mines.[12] Since 1996, Cuba has stated on several occasions that it does not and has never exported antipersonnel mines.[13] There is no official information available on the size or composition of Cuba’s stockpile of antipersonnel mines.[14]

20-Year Summary

The Republic of Cuba’s authorities maintain minefields around the United States (US) naval base at Guantánamo in the southeast of the country. There is no mine action program in Cuba and it has not conducted clearance of minefields in the last 10 years.

Contamination and Impact

Cuba’s mine contamination remains unchanged from previous years. In 2007, Cuba 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.”[1] According to an earlier statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, existing minefields are duly “marked, fenced and guarded” in accordance with CCW Amended Protocol II Meeting of Experts.[2] According to a book published in 2008, mines laid around the naval base detonate “at least once a month,”[3] but it has not been possible to independently confirm this claim. In February 2018, a fire broke out in the 17-mile strip of land separating the Guantánamo base from Cuban territory, which reportedly detonated 1,000 landmines and burned 1,700 acres over three days before being extinguished.[4]

The last reported casualties in the Republic of Cuba were in 2013, when a 48-year-old man sustained severe injuries when attempting to dismantle an item of ERW in his home and sell it for scrap in Puerto Padre. The explosion also injured two other adults and two children.[1] Between 1999 and the end of 2014, the Monitor identified a total of 11 mine casualties (two persons killed and nine injured) in Cuba.

The Republic of Cuba has a free and universal healthcare system.[1] The Cuban Association of Physically Disabled Persons (Asociación Cubana de Limitados Físico-Motores, ACLIFIM) has provided a support network for persons with physical disabilities. As of December 2015, it represented over 74,000 members.[2]

Cuba was not known to have domestic law that expressly prohibited discrimination against persons with disabilities. Persons with disabilities are entitled to equal pay and equal access to work. Legislation requires that buildings and transportation services accommodate the accessibility needs of persons with disabilities, however access remained a challenge. The Ministry of Labor and Social Security managed an employment program for persons with disabilities.[3]

Handicap International has a socio-economic inclusion program for persons with disabilities in the province of Granma. As of October 2016, there had been almost 2,400 beneficiaries from the program, which seeks to develop sustainable local employment opportunities for persons with disabilities.[4]

Cuba ratified the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities on 6 September 2007.