Cuba

Cluster Munition Ban Policy

Last updated: 04 September 2020

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]

Type

Quantity of cluster munitions

RBK-250 AO

282

RBK-250 PTAB

663

BKF AO

336

BKF PTAB

382

RBK-250 ZAB

193

Total

1,856

 

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]



[2] Statement of Cuba, UN General Assembly (UNGA) First Committee on Disarmament and International Security, New York, 30 October 2016.

[3] The initial report covered the period from 1 October 2016 to 30 March 2017, while the first update covers the period from 30 March 2017 to 30 April 2018, the second update covers the period from 30 April 2018 to 30 April 2019, and the most recent update covers calendar year 2019.

[4] Cuba participated in the convention’s Meetings of States Parties in 2010–2011, 2014, and the First Review Conference and an intersessional meeting in 2015.

[5] Statement of Cuba, Convention on Cluster Munitions First Review Conference, Dubrovnik, 11 September 2015.

[6] Statement of Cuba, Convention on Cluster Munitions Ninth Meeting of States Parties, Geneva, 2 September 2019.

[7]Implementation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions,” UNGA Resolution 70/54, 7 December 2015.

[8]Implementation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions,” UNGA Resolution 74/62, 12 December 2019.

[9] Statement of Cuba, Convention on Cluster Munitions Fifth Meeting of States Parties, San Jose, 3 September 2014; and statement of Cuba, Convention on Cluster Munition Sixth Meeting of States Parties, Geneva, 5 September 2016.

[11] Cuba did not, but should, declare the quantity of KMGU dispensers it possesses.

[12] Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 7 Report, Form B, 30 March 2017. Cuba reported stockpiled incendiary weapons (RBK-500 ZAB air-dropped bombs), which are not covered by the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

[13] The report did not list the quantity of cluster munitions and submunitions destroyed, but stated that: “The cluster munitions and existing explosive submunitions were destroyed” (“Las municiones en racimo y submuniciones explosivas existentes fueron destruidas”). Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 7 Report, Form B, 30 April 2018.

[14] Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 7 Report, Form C, 30 March 2017; and Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 7 Report, Form C, 30 April 2018.