Norway

Cluster Munition Ban Policy

Last updated: 10 August 2015

Five-Year Review: State Party Norway was among the first 30 ratifications to trigger the convention’s entry into force on 1 August 2010. Norway adopted implementing legislation two weeks before it signed and ratified the convention in December 2008. Norway hosted and served as president of the convention’s Third Meeting of States Parties in Oslo in September 2012. It has participated in all of the convention meetings and has elaborated its views on several important issues relating to the interpretation and implementation of the convention.

Norway has served as the convention’s co-coordinator on universalization since September 2013, convening regional workshops to encourage new accessions and ratifications. It has repeatedly condemned new use of cluster munitions, including in Ukraine, Syria, and Yemen.

In its initial transparency report for the convention provided in 2011, Norway confirmed that it has never used or produced cluster munitions. It completed the destruction of a stockpile of 52,190 cluster munitions and 3 million submunitions in June 2010, prior to entry into force. Norway has not retained any cluster munitions for research or training.

Policy

The Kingdom of Norway signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 3 December 2008 and ratified that same day. It was among the first 30 ratifications to trigger the convention’s entry into force on 1 August 2010.

On 20 November 2008, Norway adopted legislation allowing it to sign and simultaneously deposit its instrument of ratification.[1] The law prohibits use, development, production, acquisition, stockpiling, or transfer of cluster munitions and provides sanctions for violations.[2] Since 2011, Norway has reported that armed forces personnel are “given appropriate education and training on the Convention” as are all Norwegians officially deployed in international operations.[3]

Norway submitted its initial Article 7 transparency report for the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 27 January 2011 and has provided annual updated reports since then, most recently in May 2015.[4]

Norway was an early supporter of action to deal with the harmful impact of cluster munitions and played an unparalleled leadership role in bringing about the Convention on Cluster Munitions. It initiated the Oslo Process in November 2006 after failed efforts to address cluster munitions within the framework of the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW).[5] Norway held the first international diplomatic conference of the process in Oslo in February 2007 and provided crucial support for all of the meetings through to the Convention on Cluster Munitions Signing Conference, which it also hosted in Oslo in December 2008. Norway was key to ensuring the strongest, most comprehensive convention text possible and also promoted a prominent and influential role for the CMC and civil society, including cluster munition survivors.[6]

Norway continues its leadership role in the work of the Convention on Cluster Munitions. Its Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva, Ambassador Steffen Kongstad, served as president of the convention’s Third Meeting of States Parties, which Norway hosted in Oslo in September 2012.[7] Norwayhas participated in every Meeting of States Parties of the convention, including in San José, Costa Rica in September 2014. It has attended all of the convention’s intersessional meetings in Geneva, most recently in June 2015.

Promotion of the convention

Norway has served as the convention’s co-coordinator on universalization since September 2013, together with Ghana, and has undertaken a range of efforts to encourage new accessions, including convening regional workshops.

At the Fifth Meeting of States Parties, Norway affirmed that the convention “has delivered” and cited considerable achievements particularly in stockpile destruction and clearance. Norway found that while “challenges remain…they are no longer of the global urgency and magnitude we were faced with at the start of the process,” and urged a greater focus on addressing challenges that “exist mainly at the national level in affected states,” where it described “political will” as “the crucial enabling or preventing factor.”[8]

At the Fifth Meeting of States Parties, Norway called on all states that are not yet party to the convention to expedite their processes to join.[9] It reported that it continues to engage bilaterally, through meetings and demarches, with signatories and non-signatories and prioritizes its engagement with states where cluster munitions have been used. Norway described universalization workshops on the convention that it convened in Geneva in 2014 and 2015 for diplomats from Francophone African, Anglophone African, and Arabic speaking countries in cooperation with its co-coordinator Ghana, the ICRC, the CMC, and New Zealand as coordinator on national implementation measures.[10] A workshop for Spanish-speaking states took place in San José during the Fifth Meeting of States Parties, while Chile also convened a regional universalization workshop in Santiago in December 2013. Costa Rica, Lebanon, Togo, and Zambia also contributed to the workshops.[11]

Norway has repeatedly condemned new use of cluster munitions and sought to ensure a strong collective response to the use, which has occurred only by states outside the convention.

At a June 2015 side event during the convention’s intersessional meetings, Norway acknowledged research by Human Rights Watch documenting credible evidence of new use of cluster munitions and urged all states to express concern at this new use. At a preparatory meeting for the convention’s First Review Conference held later that week, Norway stated it condemns any use of cluster munitions and is deeply concerned at new use of cluster munitions in Ukraine, Syria, and Yemen.[12] Norway called on States Parties to clearly condemn new use of cluster munitions in order to send a strong political message and strengthen the norms that underpin the convention.[13]

In May 2015, Norway’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Børge Brende, issued a statement in response to reports of new use of cluster munitions in Yemen that said, “Norway condemns all use of cluster munitions,” and called on “all countries to refrain from using cluster munitions and to join the Convention banning these weapons.”[14] Previously, in February 2014, Brende condemned the use of cluster munitions in South Sudan.[15]

In February 2015, Norway’s State Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Bård Glad Pedersen, cited a report by the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine describing a cluster munition rocket attack on Luhansk on 27 January and said, “It is completely unacceptable that cluster munitions have been used in the conflict in Ukraine. Norway condemns all use of cluster munitions.” Pedersen called on the parties concerned “to make a clear commitment to refrain from all use of cluster munitions” and join the convention.[16]

At the Fifth Meeting of States Parties in September 2014, Norway stated it was “deeply concerned about reports of the use of cluster munitions in Syria, Ukraine and South Sudan and the humanitarian consequences that follow such use” and called on “all parties in these conflicts to make sure that no more use occurs.”[17] It noted the “generally limited” use of cluster munitions since the convention’s adoption and entry into force and observed that “cluster munitions have been thoroughly stigmatised, to the extent that most states, including many outside the Convention, consider their use unacceptable, illegal and unbefitting of responsible members of the international community.”[18] Norway has condemned the use of cluster munitions in Syria repeatedly since September 2012.[19] It has voted in favor of UN General Assembly (UNGA) resolutions condemning use of cluster munitions in Syria, including Resolution 69/189 on 18 December 2014, which expressed “outrage” at the continued use.[20]

Norway places particular emphasis on the importance of ensuring cooperative partnership between affected states and other states, as well as with international organizations and civil society.[21] Norway remains one of the largest mine action donors providing support to the implementation of the convention in a number of countries, including projects related to victim assistance, clearance, and stockpile destruction. With the support of the Royal Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the NGO Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA) has continued to clear cluster munition remnants, provide technical support on stockpile destruction, and play a leadership role in the CMC, promoting the Convention on Cluster Munitions in Norway and internationally.[22]

Interpretive issues

Through its statements and its national implementation legislation, Norway has elaborated its views on certain important issues relating to interpretation and implementation of the convention.

According to Norway’s implementation legislation, the convention’s prohibitions, including the prohibition on assistance, apply in all circumstances, even during joint military operations. The preparatory section of the implementation legislation states that “the exemption for military cooperation does not authorize states parties to engage in activities prohibited by the convention.”[23]

In September 2012, Norway stated:

Article 1(1) states the absolute prohibition on any use of all cluster munitions, linked to the unambiguous phrase “never under any circumstances”. This prohibition applies to all kinds of conflicts as well as situations falling below the threshold of armed conflict. The prohibition against use, production, etc., cannot be bypassed or circumvented by creative interpretations of other articles in the Convention. Article 21(4) of the Convention specifies that nothing in the Convention shall authorise a State Party to inter alia use cluster munitions. Article 9 requires that what is prohibited to States Parties must also be prohibited for all individuals.[24]

During the Oslo Process, Norway argued against the inclusion of language on “interoperability” (joint military operations with states not party), stating that it had yet to see any insurmountable difficulties with interoperability in the context of other legal instruments, including the Mine Ban Treaty. As a NATO member, Norway stated that the issue merited discussion, but it was unfounded to automatically assume that a future treaty would be an obstacle to joint military action. Norway noted that it had solved issues regarding criminal liability for its service personnel in its national legislation, which contained “penal provisions regulating issues such as command responsibility, effective control and individual culpability, in relation to international operations.”[25]

Norway’s national implementation legislation bans the transit of cluster munitions under its prohibition on assistance.[26] With regard to the issue of foreign stockpiling of cluster munitions on the national territory of a State Party, Norway stated in 2012 that “it would be contrary to the prohibition on assistance etc. in Article 1 c to allow another state to stockpile cluster munitions on its territory.”[27]

The US stockpiled cluster munitions in Norway until 2010. According to a Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs official, “After the adoption of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, Norway discussed with the USA the issue of their stockpile of cluster munitions on Norwegian territory. Norway offered to destroy these cluster munitions together with our own stockpiles. However, the USA decided to remove their stocks, something which happened during the spring of 2010.”[28]

In 2004, the Ministry of Finance decided to include cluster munitions in a category of indiscriminate orinhumane weapons to be excluded from investment under the Norwegian Government Pension Fund’s ethical guidelines, and eight foreign companies involved in the production of cluster munitions were excluded from the fund’s investments in 2005. Additional companies were excluded in 2006 and 2008.[29] A 2012 report by NGOs IKV Pax Christi (now PAX) and FairFin highlighted four Norwegian financial institutions for their policies prohibiting investments in cluster munitions producers.[30]

Norway is a State Party to the Mine Ban Treaty. It is also party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons.

Use, production, and transfer

Norway has not used, produced, or exported cluster munitions, but imported them in the past.[31] It obtained Rockeye cluster bombs from the US, which it destroyed between 2001 and 2003.[32] Norway obtained 155mm artillery projectiles with dual-purpose improved conventional munition (DPICM) submunitions from Germany.[33]

Stockpile destruction

On 16 July 2010—two weeks before to the convention entered into force—Norway completed the destruction of a stockpile of 52,190 155mm DPICM artillery projectiles containing 3,087,910 submunitions.[34] The Norwegian Armed Forces and Nammo Demil Division carried out the destruction in 2009 and 2010.[35] The cluster munitions were destroyed 910m below ground in an old copper mine at Løkken Verk in Trøndelag, south of the city of Trondheim.[36]

In November 2003, Norway stated that on the basis of a 2001 parliamentary resolution, “All air-delivered cluster bombs previously in Norwegian stock have been destroyed, because of their low level of precision and high dud-rate.”[37] According to NPA, Norway had 745 Rockeye bombs, each with 247 bomblets.[38]

Norway has not retained any cluster munitions or submunitions for training or other permitted purposes.[39]

In 2009, Norway announced its decision not to retain any cluster munitions for training or research purposes and urged all states to do the same.[40] Norway has reiterated its view that it is unnecessary to retain live submunitions for training and research purposes on a number of occasions.[41] In 2011, Norway described the arguments in favor of retaining cluster munitions as “flawed.”[42] Norway has also stated that retention of large numbers of cluster munitions could be seen as undermining the categorical approach of the prohibitions of the convention.[43]

 



[1] Act relating to the implementation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions in Norwegian law of 15 May 2009 No. 28 (adopted 20 November 2008). Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 7 Report, Form A, 27 January 2011. Proposition No. 7 (2008–2009) to the Odelsting on a Bill relating to the implementation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions in Norwegian law; and Proposition No. 4 (2008–2009) to the Storting on consent to ratification of the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

[2] Act relating to the implementation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions in Norwegian law of 15 May 2009 No. 28 (adopted 20 November 2008). Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 7 Report, Form A, 27 January 2011. The penalty for violating the act is a fine or imprisonment for up to two years for cases where the perpetrator acts intentionally, and a fine or imprisonment for up to six months for negligent acts. The act amends the General Civil Penal Code of Norway to establish criminal jurisdiction over violations of the convention, when committed on Norwegian territory, including Svalbard, Jan Mayen, and other Norwegian dependencies, or on any Norwegian vessel or aircraft, or abroad by any Norwegian national or person with residency in Norway.

[3] Convention on Cluster Munition Article 7 Reports, Form A, 22 May 2015, 30 April 2014, 30 April 2013, 30 April 2012, and 27 January 2011. The 2015 Article 7 report indicates no change from previous reports.

[4] Norway submitted Article 7 reports on 27 January 2011 (for the period from 1 August 2010 to 31 December 2010), 30 April 2012 (for calendar year 2011), 30 April 2013 (for calendar year 2012), 30 April 2014 (for calendar year 2013), and on 22 May 2015 (for calendar year 2014).

[5] In 2011, Wikileaks released a number of US diplomatic cables that show how the US sought to engage with Norway over the course of the Oslo Process, especially with respect to US concerns about “interoperability” (joint military operations with states not party). For example, in a May 2007 cable, US officials noted that Norway had “dismissed U.S. concerns” over the draft text of the ban convention, stating that Norwegian officials “rejected our point that as written the text would have any impact on alliance or coalition activities. They stated that the penal sanctions clause had been copied directly from the land mine treaty and that the land mine treaty did not have any negative effects on alliance interoperability. They also stressed the involvement of many NATO allies in the Oslo process. They requested specific examples of how the land mine treaty impacted alliance operations.” See “Cluster Munitions: Norway asks the U.S. to prove military utility,” US Department of State cable 07OSLO525 dated 18 May 2007, released by Wikileaks on 1 September 2011.

[6] For more details on Norway’s cluster munition policy and practice through early 2009, see Human Rights Watch and Landmine Action, Banning Cluster Munitions: Government Policy and Practice (Ottawa: Mines Action Canada, May 2009), pp. 134–140.

[7] See the official website for the Convention on Cluster Munitions Third Meeting of States Parties, Oslo, 11–14 September 2012. The list of participants is available. During Norway´s presidency of the convention, it issued a working paper to begin discussions aimed at improving implementation of Article 4 clearance obligations, supported efforts to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of meetings of the convention including the convening of nine coordinating committees. It launched an improved official website for the convention and continued consultations on the establishment of an implementation support unit for the convention.

[8] Statement of Norway, Convention on Cluster Munitions Fifth Meeting of States Parties, San José, 2 September 2014.

[9] Ibid.

[10] Ibid.

[11] Ibid.

[12] Intervention by Norway, Side Event hosted by Costa Rica and the CMC on new use of cluster munitions, Geneva, 22 June 2015. Notes by Human Rights Watch (HRW).

[13] Statement of Norway, Second Preparatory Meetings for the First Review Conference of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, Geneva, 24 June 2015. Notes by Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA).

[14] Ministry of Foreign Affairs Press Release, “Norway condemns use of cluster munitions in Yemen,” 11 May 2015. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs also tweeted to condemn the use of cluster munitions in Yemen, stating that 116 countries had joined the ban but “more must follow.” Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, @NorwayMFA, “Norway condemns use of ‪#clustermunitions in ‪#Yemen. Civilian population suffering. 116 countries w/ ban, more must follow - FM ‪@borgebrende,” 06:46am, 11 May 2015, Tweet.

[15] See Ministry of Foreign Affairs Press Release, “Norge fordømmer bruk av klasevåpen i Sør-Sudan” (“Norway condemns the use of cluster munitions in South Sudan”), 22 February 2014.

[16] Permanent Mission of Norway to the UN in Geneva Press Release, “Norway condemns use of cluster munitions in Ukraine,” last updated 13 February 2015.

[17] Statement by Amb. Steffen Kongstad, Convention on Cluster Munitions Fifth Meeting of States Parties, San José, 2 September 2014.

[18] Ibid.

[19] Statement of Norway, Convention on Cluster Munitions Third Meeting of States Parties, Oslo, 11 September 2012; Ministry of Foreign Affairs Press Release, “Norway Condemns use of Cluster Munitions in Syria,” 15 October 2012; statement of Norway, Convention on Cluster Munitions Intersessional Meetings, Geneva, 16 April 2013; and statement of Norway, UNGA First Committee on Disarmament and International Security, New York, 29 October 2013.

[20]Situation of human rights in the Syrian Arab Republic,” UNGA Resolution A/RES/69/189, 18 December 2014. Norway voted in favor of similar resolutions on 15 May and 18 December 2013.

[21] See, for example: statement of Norway, Convention on Cluster Munitions Fifth Meeting of States Parties, San José, 2 September 2014; statement of Norway, Convention on Cluster Munitions Intersessional Meetings, Geneva, 16 April 2012; and statement by Gry Larsen, State Secretary, Convention on Cluster Munitions Second Meeting of States Parties, Beirut, 15 September 2011.

[22] For more information, see NPA website.

[23] Proposition No. 4 (2008–2009) to the Storting on consent to ratification of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, p. 23.

[24] Statement of Norway, Convention on Cluster Munitions Third Meeting of States Parties, Oslo, 11 September 2012.

[25] Statement of Norway, Session on General Obligations and Scope, Vienna Conference on Cluster Munitions, 6 December 2007. Notes by the CMC/Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom.

[26] On the subject of transit, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs referred to Norway’s implementation legislation adopted on 20 November 2008 and associated commentary, which explains that the prohibition on assistance encompasses transit. Act relating to the implementation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions in Norwegian law of 15 May 2009, No. 28 (adopted 20 November 2008). Email from May-Elin Stener, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to Mary Wareham, HRW, 3 April 2012. See, Proposition No. 7 (2008–2009) to the Odelsting on a Bill relating to the implementation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions in Norwegian law; and Proposition No. 4 (2008–2009) to the Stortingon consent to ratification of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, p. 8.

[27] Email from May-Elin Stener, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to Mary Wareham, HRW, 3 April 2012.

[28] Email from Ingunn Vatne, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 1 August 2012. A US cable dated 17 December 2008 includes a description of the cluster munitions stored by the US in Norway at that time and states: “Norwegian legal experts are of the opinion that Norway has jurisdiction over all CM [cluster munitions] stored on Norwegian soil, including the US CM stored in the MCPP-N [Marine Corps Pre-positioning Program – Norway] caves.” According to the cable, the US stockpile in Norway was believed to consist of “2,544 rounds” of “D563 Dual Purpose Improved Conventional Munitions (DPICM)” and “2,528 rounds” of “D864 Extended Range Dual Purpose ICM.” See, “Norway Raises question Concerning U.S. Cluster Munitions,” US Department of State cable 08OSLO676 dated 17 December 2008, released by Wikileaks on 1 September 2011.

[29] The fund’s Council on Ethics, an independent council of five people, provides advice to the Ministry of Finance which then makes the exclusion decision. See, Ministry of Finance Press Releases: “A Further Eight Companies Excluded from the Petroleum Fund,” No. 57/2005, 2 September 2005; “South Korean producer of cluster munitions excluded from the Government Pension Fund-Global,” No. 89/2006, 6 December 2006; and “One producer of cluster munitions and two producers of nuclear weapons excluded from the Government Pension Fund-Global,” No. 3/2008, 11 January 2008.

[30] The Norwegian Government Pension Fund-Global, DNB, Storebrand Group, and the KLP. IKV Pax Christi and FairFin, “Worldwide investments in Cluster Munitions: a shared responsibility,” June 2012, pp. 93–94, 96–97, 100, and 136. See also: PAX, “Worldwide investment in Cluster Munitions: a shared responsibility, November 2014 update,” Utrecht, November 2014.

[31] Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 7 Report, Forms B and E, 27 January 2011.

[32] Norway, “National interpretation and implementation of International Humanitarian Law with regard to the risk of Explosive Remnants of War,” CCW/GGE/VI/WG.1/WP.3, CCW Group of Governmental Experts (GGE) on Explosive Remnants of War (ERW), Geneva, 24 November 2003.

[33] Leland S. Ness and Anthony G. Williams, eds., Jane’s Ammunition Handbook 2007–2008 (Surrey, UK: Jane’s Information Group Limited, 2007), pp. 674–676. This indicates a contract was awarded in late 2006.

[34] The stockpile was comprised of 37,900 DM-642 155mm artillery projectiles (each with 63 DM-1383 DPICM submunitions) and 14,290 DM-662 155mm artillery projectiles (each with 49 DM-1385 DPICM submunitions). Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 7 Report, Form B, 27 January 2011; and presentation by the Norwegian Defense and Logistics Organization/Surplus Material Management Program, Convention on Cluster Munitions First Meeting of States Parties, Vientiane, 10 November 2010. Notes by the CMC.

[35] Ministry of Defence Press Release, “Norwegian cluster munitions soon to be history,” 7 May 2009. At the First Meeting of States Parties, Norway gave a detailed presentation on its stockpile destruction process, which it said cost US$4 million. Presentation by the Norwegian Defense and Logistics Organization/Surplus Material Management Program, Convention on Cluster Munitions First Meeting of States Parties, Vientiane, 10 November 2010. Notes by the CMC.

[36] Statement of Norway, Berlin Conference on the Destruction of Cluster Munitions, 25 June 2009. Notes by Action on Armed Violence (AOAV).

[37] Norway, “National interpretation and implementation of International Humanitarian Law with regard to the risk of Explosive Remnants of War,” CCW/GGE/VI/WG.1/WP.3, CCW GGE on ERW, Geneva, 24 November 2003.

[38] Email from Atle Karlsen, Mine Action Advisor, NPA, 23 April 2009.

[39] Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 7 Reports, Form C, 30 April 2014, 30 April 2013, 30 April 2012, and 27 January 2011. The Article 7 reports state “none” on Form C for cluster munitions retained for training and research purposes. Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 7 Report, Form D, 22 May 2015.

[40] Amb. Steffen Kongstad said, “The minimum number of cluster munitions absolutely necessary is zero.” Statement of Norway, Berlin Conference on the Destruction of Cluster Munitions, 25 June 2009. Notes by AOAV.

[41] Statement of Norway, Convention on Cluster Munitions Third Meeting of States Parties, Oslo, 13 September 2012; statement of Norway, Convention on Cluster Munitions Intersessional Meetings, Geneva, 18 April 2012; and statement of Norway, Convention on Cluster Munitions Second Meeting of States Parties, Beirut, 14 September 2011.

[42] Norway said the accreditation of mine detection dogs was the only situation where there could possibly be a need for training with live munitions, but even then the explosive submunitions required for this type of training would be those used in the area where the dog would work, so the training would best be done in the affected country using submunitions cleared from that contaminated area. Statement of Norway, Convention on Cluster Munitions Intersessional Meetings, Geneva, 27 June 2011.

[43] Statement of Norway, Convention on Cluster Munitions Intersessional Meetings, Geneva, 18 April 2012; and presentation of the Norwegian Defense and Logistics Organization/Surplus Material Management Program, Convention on Cluster Munitions First Meeting of States Parties, Vientiane, 10 November 2010. Notes by the CMC.