Liberia
Cluster Munition Ban Policy
Summary
Signatory Liberia has pledged to ratify the convention but does not appear to have taken any steps to do so. Liberia last participated in a meeting of the convention in 2017. It voted in favor of a key United Nations (UN) resolution on the convention in December 2020.
Liberia is not known to have used, produced, or transferred cluster munitions and stated in 2011 that it has never stockpiled them.
Policy
The Republic of Liberia signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 3 December 2008.
The current status of Liberia’s ratification of the convention is unknown. In July 2015, draft ratification legislation was introduced to parliament, but never progressed forward.[1] Liberia has expressed its intent to ratify the convention on several occasions.[2] However, government officials have acknowledged that the ratification process lacks momentum.[3] Liberia conducted stakeholder consultations on the matter of ratifying the convention in 2011–2013.[4]
Liberia participated in the Oslo Process that produced the Convention on Cluster Munitions.[5]
Liberia has attended several meetings of the convention, but not since September 2017. It was invited, but did not attend, the first part of the convention’s Second Review Conference held virtually in November 2020.[6]
In December 2020, Liberia voted in favor of a UN General Assembly (UNGA) resolution that urged states outside the Convention on Cluster Munitions to “join as soon as possible.”[7] It has voted in favor of the annual UNGA resolution promoting the convention since it was first introduced in 2015.
Liberia has voted in favor of UNGA resolutions expressing outrage at the use of cluster munitions in Syria, most recently in December 2019.[8]
Liberia is a State Party to the Mine Ban Treaty. It is also party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons.
Use, production, transfer, and stockpiling
In 2011, Liberia told States Parties to the convention that it has never stockpiled cluster munitions.[9] Liberia is not known to have used, produced, or transferred cluster munitions.
[1] Email from Teresa Dybeck, Programme Manager, Parliamentary Forum on Small Arms and Light Weapons, 27 July 2015.
[2] In 2017, Liberia informed States Parties that the executive branch was working to ensure the convention was ratified “before this administration leaves office in January of 2018.” Statement of Liberia, Convention on Cluster Munitions Seventh Meeting of States Parties, Geneva, 4 September 2017. Official audio recording, UN Digital Recordings Portal.
[3] ICBL-CMC meeting with Stephen Zargo, Senator and Chairman of the State Committee on Defense and Security, and Michael Yorwah, Chairman of the Liberian Action Network on Small Arms, Geneva, 24 August 2016.
[4] In May 2013, Liberia stated that a committee working on the ratification of the convention had been holding consultations. Statement of Liberia, Lomé Regional Seminar on the Universalization of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, Lomé, Togo, 22 May 2013; In September 2011, Liberia stated that the government has initiated consultations with relevant stakeholders on ratification of the convention. Statement of Liberia, Convention on Cluster Munitions Second Meeting of States Parties, Beirut, 14 September 2011.
[5] For details on Liberia’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), p. 108.
[6] Liberia participated in the Meetings of States Parties in 2011–2014 and in 2017, as well as regional workshops on the convention. It did not attend the First Review Conference in Dubrovnik, Croatia, in September 2015.
[7] “Implementation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions,” UN General Assembly (UNGA) Resolution 75/62, 7 December 2020.
[8] “Situation of human rights in the Syrian Arab Republic,” UNGA Resolution 74/169, 18 December 2019. Liberia voted in favor of similar resolutions in 2013–2018. It was not present for the vote on the annual resolution in December 2020.
[9] Statement of Liberia, Convention on Cluster Munitions Third Meeting of States Parties, Oslo, 12 September 2013.
Mine Ban Policy
The Republic of Liberia acceded to the Mine Ban Treaty on 23 December 1999, becoming a State Party on 1 June 2000. Liberia has not enacted new legislation specifically to implement the Mine Ban Treaty.
Liberia has not attended any recent meetings of the treaty, including the Third Review Conference in Maputo in June 2014. Liberia submitted its initial Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 report nearly four years late, on 20 October 2004, and has submitted just one subsequent report in 2014.
On 5 December 2018, Liberia voted in favor of UN General Assembly resolution 73/61 promoting universalization and implementation of the convention.
Liberia is party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons and its Amended Protocol II on landmines and Protocol V on explosive remnants of war. Liberia is a signatory state to the Convention on Cluster Munitions.
Production, use, transfer, stockpiling
Mines were used during the country’s first civil war (1989–1997) by non-state armed groups. Liberia has no known mined areas but is affected by explosive remnants of war, the result of 14 years of internal and regional warfare.
Liberia has never produced, imported, exported, or stockpiled antipersonnel mines, including for training purposes.