Summary

Non-signatory Nepal has not taken any steps to accede to the Convention on Cluster Munitions. It has participated as an observer in one meeting of the convention, in 2013. Nepal abstained from voting on a key United Nations (UN) resolution promoting the convention in December 2020.

In October 2019, Nepal stated that it has never used, produced, or transferred cluster munitions and does not stockpile them.

Policy

The Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal has not acceded to the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

Nepal has never elaborated its position on joining the convention.[1]

Nepal participated in two meetings of the Oslo Process that created the convention, in Vienna in December 2007 and Wellington in February 2008. However, Nepal did not attend the Dublin negotiations in May 2008 or the Oslo Signing Conference in December 2008.

Nepal participated as an observer in the convention’s Fourth Meeting of States Parties in Lusaka, Zambia in September 2013. This remains its first and, to date, only participation in a meeting of the convention. Nepal was invited, but did not attend, the first part of the convention’s Second Review Conference held virtually in November 2020.

In December 2020, Nepal again abstained from voting on a UN General Assembly (UNGA) resolution that urged states outside the Convention on Cluster Munitions to “join as soon as possible.”[2]

The Cluster Munition Coalition’s (CMC) national partner, the Nepal Campaign to Ban Landmines (NCBL), continues its outreach in support of the convention.[3]

Nepal is not party to the Mine Ban Treaty, nor is it party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW).

Use, production, transfer, and stockpiling

Nepal stated in 2009 and 2010 that it has never used, produced, or transferred cluster munitions, and does not stockpile them.[4] In October 2019, a government official told the Monitor that Nepal does not possess cluster munitions. [5]