Summary: Non-signatory Oman has never commented on the humanitarian concerns raised by cluster munitions or elaborated its position on joining the Convention on Cluster Munitions.It last participated in a meeting of the convention in September 2019. Oman abstained from voting on a key United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) resolution promoting the convention in December 2022.

Oman is not known to have produced or exported cluster munitions, but it has imported them and likely possesses stocks. There is no evidence that Oman has used cluster munitions.

Policy

The Sultanate of Oman has not acceded to the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

Oman has never commented on the humanitarian concerns raised by cluster munitions or elaborated its position on joining the convention.[1]

Oman participated in several meetings of the Oslo Process that created the Convention on Cluster Munitions, including the formal negotiations in Dublin in May 2008 as an observer, but did not sign the convention.[2]

Oman has participated as an observer at several meetings of the convention, most recently the Ninth Meeting of States Parties in Geneva in September 2019.[3] Oman was invited to, but did not attend, the convention’s Tenth Meeting of States Parties held in Geneva in August–September 2022.

In December 2022, Oman abstained from voting on a key UNGA resolution urging states outside the Convention on Cluster Munitions to “join as soon as possible.”[4] Oman has abstained from the vote on the annual UNGA resolution promoting the convention since it was first introduced in 2015.

Oman 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

Oman is not known to have used, produced, or exported cluster munitions.

Oman has imported cluster munitions and possesses a stockpile. In 2002, the United States (US) announced the sale of 50 CBU-97/105 Sensor Fuzed Weapons to Oman.[5] Jane’s Information Group has reported that Oman possesses BL755 and Rockeye cluster bombs.[6] Oman also possesses 122mm Grad-type and Hyrda-70 rocket launchers, but it is not known if they deliver cluster munition payloads.

Policy

The Sultanate of Oman acceded to the Mine Ban Treaty on 20 August 2014, and the treaty entered into force for the country on 1 February 2015.[1]

Oman reported that it had directed the law-making authority to create legislation criminalizing any violation of the treaty, and that it had established a permanent committee for the implementation of the treaty at the office of the army chief of staff.[2] In its Article 7 transparency report submitted in May 2017, Oman reported that it had taken several legal measures to implement the Mine Ban Treaty, including Sultan’s Order 26/2014 on joining the treaty. Oman also reported that it had included the treaty’s articles in Omani Penal Law and Military Judicial Law, and had ordered all military institutions to cease instruction on antipersonnel landmine use.[3] Oman submitted an updated Article 7 report in 2021, for calendar year 2020, but did not provide any further update on the progress of its implementation legislation.[4]

Oman attended the Mine Ban Treaty’s Fourth Review Conference in Oslo in November 2019, but did not attend the Eighteenth Meeting of States Parties, held virtually in November 2020. However, Oman attended most of the previous meetings of States Parties, and intersessional meetings. At the Seventeenth Meeting of States Parties, in Geneva in November 2018, Oman declared completion of stockpile destruction.[5]

Oman is not a party to the Convention on Cluster Munitions, nor the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW).

Use, production, transfer, and stockpiling

In November 2018, Oman announced that it had completed the destruction of its stockpiles, ahead of its 1 February 2019 deadline.[6] Oman began the destruction process on 13 September 2015, and completed destruction on 25 September 2018. Oman destroyed 6,104 antipersonnel landmines in 2018.[7]

In its initial Article 7 transparency report, submitted in 2015, Oman declared a stockpile of 17,260 antipersonnel landmines of Belgian, British, and German manufacture.[8] It has stated its intention to retain 2,000 antipersonnel mines for training and research purposes, and has established an implementation unit to organize stockpile destruction and clearance.[9] Oman noted in its initial Article 7 report that while it possessed an operational stock of Claymore mines, they were limited to command-detonated mode; yet Oman has not described in detail the specific measures it has taken to ensure that the mines can only be used in command-detonated mode, as has been urged by other States Parties.[10] In its Article 7 report submitted in 2021, Oman reported no change in the number of retained mines, but reported that the specific use of the retained mines is for training on detection, clearance, and destruction techniques.[11]

Officials have stated that Oman has never produced or exported antipersonnel mines, but imported and used them in the past.[12]

COUNTRY SUMMARY

Oman was contaminated by antipersonnel and antivehicle landmines, as a result of an internal conflict between the Royal Army of Oman and the People’s Front for the Liberation of Oman and the Arabian Gulf, in the period from 1964–1975.[1]

In its initial Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 report, submitted in 2015, Oman reported that all of its hazardous areas had been cleared before it joined the treaty, but were in the process of being “re-inspected” based on a workplan for the release of all remaining suspected mined areas by its Article 5 deadline of 1 February 2025.

Oman reported that there were no confirmed mined areas, though it has reported the existence of “many” suspected mined areas in the south, particularly in Dhofar governorate.[2]

Oman does not have risk education or victim assistance programs in place.

ASSESSING THE IMPACT

Contamination

 Extent of contamination[3]

 Note: SHA=suspected hazardous area; N/A=not applicable.

Landmine contamination

In 2021, Oman developed a workplan to release its remaining 514,800m² of suspected mined areas by April 2024, without providing further details on this estimate.[4]

Casualties

In 2020, Oman reported that no incidents involving landmines or explosive remnants of war (ERW) had occurred in the country in two decades, with no casualties recorded since 2001.[5] From 1975–2001, a total of 12 people were killed and 84 injured by mines/ERW in Oman.[6]

ADDRESSING THE IMPACT

Clearance

Management and coordination

In 2017, Oman reported that it intended to establish a national mine action center. However, no further details have subsequently been reported. In its Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 report for 2020, Oman included a workplan to complete clearance by its 2025 Article 5 deadline.[7]

Land release: antipersonnel landmines

Five-year landmine clearance: 2018­–2022[8]

 Note: APM=antipersonnel mines; N/R=not reported.

As of the end of 2023, Oman had not yet submitted Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 reports covering calendar years 2021 or 2022.

In 2020, a total of 232,600m² was reported as cleared, though no mines were found.[9] In 2019, Oman reported re-clearance of 11 mined areas, totaling 130,100m², in Al-Mughsail, Dhofar governorate, but no mines were found.[10] Oman reported re-clearance of 79,200m² in 2018, but did not specify where this clearance took place nor whether any mines were destroyed.[11]

Mine Ban Treaty Article 5 clearance deadline

Summary of Article 5 clearance deadline extension request(s)

 Note: N/A=not applicable.

The Mine Ban Treaty entered into force for Oman on 1 February 2015. Oman provided States Parties with a workplan for the re-inspection and release of remaining suspected mined areas in the period from 2021–2024, ahead of its Article 5 clearance deadline of 1 February 2025.[12]

No contribution from the Sultanate of Oman was reported for 2014.

Between 2011–2013, Oman provided a total of US$300,000 to mine action in Afghanistan through the UN Voluntary Trust Fund for Assistance in Mine Action (VTF).[1]