Bangladesh
Cluster Munition Ban Policy
Summary
Non-signatory Bangladesh has expressed interest in the Convention on Cluster Munitions, but has not taken any steps to accede to it. It last participated in a meeting of the convention in 2019. Bangladesh voted in favor of the annual United Nations (UN) resolution promoting the convention in December 2021.
In 2019, Bangladesh said that it does not use, produce, transfer, or possess a stockpile of cluster munitions.
Policy
The People’s Republic of Bangladesh has not acceded to the Convention on Cluster Munitions.
Various officials from Bangladesh have expressed interest in the convention, but no steps have been taken to accede. In September 2019, Bangladesh told States Parties that it is “actively considering signing the ban treaty on cluster munitions following required protocol in due course of time.”[1]
Bangladesh participated in several meetings of the Oslo Process that created the convention, but did not attend the formal negotiations in Dublin in May 2008.[2] Bangladesh attended a regional conference on the convention in Bali, Indonesia, in November 2009.
Bangladesh has participated as an observer in several meetings of the convention, most recently in September 2019.[3] It was invited to, but did not attend, the convention’s Second Review Conference in November 2020 and September 2021, or the intersessional meetings held in May 2022.
In December 2021, Bangladesh voted in favor of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) resolution urging states outside the Convention on Cluster Munitions to “join as soon as possible.”[4] It has voted in favor of the annual UNGA resolution promoting the convention every year since it was first introduced in 2015.
Bangladesh is a State Party to the Mine Ban Treaty. It is also party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW).
Use, production, transfer, and stockpiling
Bangladesh stated in September 2019 that it does not produce, export, or stockpile cluster munitions.[5] Previously, in 2013, a representative of the Bangladesh Armed Forces told the Cluster Munition Coalition (CMC) that the country does not possess cluster munitions.[6]
[1] Statement of Bangladesh, Convention on Cluster Munitions Ninth Meeting of States Parties, Geneva, 2 September 2019. This marked the first time that Bangladesh formally elaborated its views on the convention, though officials had previously discussed the country’s views with the CMC on many occasions. CMC interviews with Faiyaz Murshid Kazi, Counsellor, Permanent Mission of Bangladesh to the UN in New York, New York, 13 and 16 October 2017; CMC meeting with Toufiq Islam Shatil, Counsellor, Permanent Mission of Bangladesh to the UN in Geneva, Geneva, 6 September 2016; and CMC meeting with Sarwar Mahmood, Counselor, Permanent Mission of Bangladesh to the UN in New York, New York, 19 October 2010. Notes by the CMC.
[2] For more information on Bangladesh’s policy and practice regarding cluster munitions through early 2010, see ICBL, Cluster Munition Monitor 2010 (Ottawa: Mines Action Canada, October 2010), p. 196.
[3] Bangladesh attended the convention’s Meetings of States Parties in 2013–2014 and 2019. It also participated in intersessional meetings in 2011 and 2014 as well as regional workshops on the convention. Bangladesh did not attend the First Review Conference held in Dubrovnik, Croatia in September 2015.
[4] “Implementation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions,” UNGA Resolution 76/47, 6 December 2021.
[5] Statement of Bangladesh, Convention on Cluster Munitions Ninth Meeting of States Parties, Geneva, 2 September 2019.
[6] CMC interview with Muhammad Golam Sarowar, Armed Forces Division, Bangladesh Armed Forces, in Lusaka, 12 September 2013. Notes by the CMC.