Liberia
Cluster Munition Ban Policy
Summary
Signatory Liberia has pledged to ratify the Convention on Cluster Munitions, but has taken few steps towards that goal. It has participated in meetings of the convention, most recently in May 2022. Liberia voted in favor of the key United Nations (UN) resolution promoting the convention in December 2021.
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.
Liberia has expressed its intent to ratify the convention on several occasions, but the current status of the ratification process is unknown.[1] Liberia held stakeholder consultations on the matter of ratifying the convention in 2011–2013.[2] Draft ratification legislation introduced to parliament in July 2015 has not progressed forward.[3]
Liberia participated in the Oslo Process that created the Convention on Cluster Munitions.[4]
Liberia has participated in several formal meetings of the convention, but not since September 2017. Liberia was invited to, but did not attend, the convention’s Second Review Conference held in November 2020 and September 2021.[5] Liberia has participated in regional workshops on the convention, most recently one held in Abuja, Nigeria in March 2022.[6]
In December 2021, Liberia voted in favor of a United Nations 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 use of cluster munitions in Syria.[8]
Liberia 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
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] 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.
[2] 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, 22 May 2013; In September 2011, Liberia stated that the government had 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.
[3] Email from Teresa Dybeck, Programme Manager, Parliamentary Forum on Small Arms and Light Weapons, 27 July 2015.
[4] For details on Liberia’s policy and practice regarding cluster munitions through early 2009, see Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Landmine Action, Banning Cluster Munitions: Government Policy and Practice (Ottawa: Mines Action Canada, May 2009), p. 108.
[5] Liberia participated in Meetings of States Parties held in 2011–2014 and 2017, as well as regional workshops on the convention. It did not attend the First Review Conference held in Dubrovnik, Croatia in September 2015.
[6] Convention on Cluster Munitions Implementation Support Unit (ISU), Report on the African Regional Convention on Cluster Munitions Universalization Workshop in Abuja, Nigeria, 23–24 March 2022.
[7] “Implementation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions,” UNGA Resolution 76/47, 6 December 2021.
[8] “Situation of human rights in the Syrian Arab Republic,” UNGA Resolution 74/169, 18 December 2019. Liberia voted in favor of similar UNGA resolutions on Syria in 2013–2018. It was not present for the vote on the resolution in December 2020.
[9] Statement of Liberia, Convention on Cluster Munitions Third Meeting of States Parties, Oslo, 12 September 2012.
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.