Bhutan
Cluster Munition Ban Policy
Summary
Non-signatory Bhutan has expressed interest in the Convention on Cluster Munitions but has not taken any steps to join it. Bhutan has participated in several meetings of the convention since 2015. It voted in favor of a key United Nations (UN) resolution promoting the convention in December 2021.
Bhutan has stated that it does not possess cluster munitions. It is not known to have used, produced, or transferred these weapons.
Policy
The Kingdom of Bhutan has not acceded to the Convention on Cluster Munitions.
Bhutan has never commented on its position on joining the convention, but officials have expressed the government’s support for the convention’s objectives.[1] In September 2019, a government representative told the Cluster Munition Coalition (CMC) that resource constraints have prevented Bhutan from undertaking the process necessary to accede to the convention.[2]
Bhutan did not participate in the Oslo Process that created the Convention on Cluster Munitions.
Bhutan has participated as an observer in several meetings of the convention since 2015, most recently the Ninth Meeting of States Parties in Geneva in September 2019 and an Asia-Pacific workshop in Manila, the Philippines in June 2019.[3] Bhutan was invited to, but did not attend, the convention’s Second Review Conference held in November 2020 and September 2021, or the intersessional meetings held in May 2022
In December 2021, Bhutan voted in favor of a United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) resolution that urged states outside the convention to “join as soon as possible.”[4] Bhutan has voted in favor of the annual UNGA resolution promoting the convention since it was first introduced in 2015.
Bhutan is a State Party to the Mine Ban Treaty. It is not party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW).
Use, production, transfer, and stockpiling
Bhutan is not known to have used, produced, transferred, or stockpiled cluster munitions. In 2010, a government representative said that Bhutan is a peaceful country that does not possess cluster munitions and has no plans to acquire them.[5]
[1] In October 2010, Bhutan’s permanent representative to the UN in New York told the CMC that the government views the convention as “a commendable achievement” and was “looking at it very closely with a view to taking positive action” on accession. Meeting with Amb. Lhatu Wangchuk, Permanent Mission of the Kingdom of Bhutan to the UN in New York, New York, 19 October 2010. Notes by the CMC. See also, interview with Kingye Singye, Minister-Counselor, Embassy of the Kingdom of Bhutan, New Delhi, 29 January 2010.
[2] CMC meeting with Sanjay Needup, Senior Desk Officer, Political and International Security Division, Multilateral Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bhutan, Geneva, 2 September 2019.
[3] Bhutan attended meetings of States Parties in 2016, 2017, and 2019, as well as the intersessional meetings held in Geneva in 2015. Monitor interview with Tandin Dorji, Second Secretary, Permanent Mission of Bhutan to the UN in Geneva, Geneva, 22 June 2015. Bhutan did not participate in the convention’s First Review Conference held in Dubrovnik, Croatia in September 2015 or intersessional meetings held in 2011–2014. See, “Asia-Pacific Workshop on CCM Universalization,” Convention on Cluster Munitions Quarterly Newsletter, April 2019.
[4] “Implementation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions,” UNGA Resolution 76/47, 6 December 2021.
[5] Meeting with Amb. Lhatu Wangchuk, Permanent Mission of the Kingdom of Bhutan to the UN in New York, New York, 19 October 2010. Notes by the CMC.