Summary

State Party Peru ratified the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 26 September 2012. Peru has participated in every meeting of the convention, most recently the Tenth Meeting of States Parties in Geneva in August–September 2022. Peru voted in favor of an important United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) resolution promoting the convention in December 2022.

Peru has never used, produced, or exported cluster munitions, but has imported them and possesses a stockpile. Peru destroyed 542 cluster munitions and 34,824 submunitions from its stockpile during 2022. Peru has stated that it is striving to complete destruction of the stocks by its 1 April 2024 deadline.

Policy

The Republic of Peru signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 3 December 2008 and ratified it on 26 September 2012. The convention entered into force for the country on 1 March 2013.

Peru regards its existing laws as sufficient to guide and enforce its implementation of the convention. It lists the 2012 ratification decree and various laws and regulations under national implementation measures for the convention.[1]

Peru submitted its initial Article 7 transparency report for the convention on 1 August 2013 and has provided annual updated reports since then, most recently in May 2023.[2]

As part of the core group of nations that took responsibility for the Oslo Process that created the Convention on Cluster Munitions, Peru hosted an international conference on cluster munitions in Lima in May 2007.[3]

Peru has participated in every meeting of the convention, most recently the Tenth Meeting of States Parties in Geneva in August–September 2022, where it provided an update on its stockpile destruction progress.[4]

In December 2022, Peru voted in favor of an important UNGA resolution urging full implementation of the convention.[5] Peru has voted in favor of the annual UNGA resolution promoting the convention since it was first introduced in 2015.

In the past, Peru has condemned the “alarming” and “horrendous” use of cluster munitions in Syria and other countries.[6] It has voted in favor of Human Rights Council resolutions condemning use of cluster munitions in Syria.[7] Peru has also voted in favor of UNGA resolutions expressing outrage at the use of cluster munitions in Syria.[8]

In September 2017, Peru elaborated its views on the convention’s prohibition on assisting with activities prohibited by the convention, stating that it interprets Article 1 as prohibiting investments in the production of cluster munitions; that is to say, it bans the provision of financial assistance to producers of cluster munitions.[9]

Peru has not commented on other important issues related to the interpretation and implementation of the convention, including the prohibition on transit and foreign stockpiling of cluster munitions, and interoperability provisions on participating in joint military operations with states not party that may use cluster munitions.

Peru is a State Party to the Mine Ban Treaty. It is also party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW).

Use, production, and transfer

Peru’s initial Article 7 transparency report, submitted in 2013, formally confirmed that it has never produced cluster munitions.[10]

Peru imported cluster munitions in the past and possesses a stockpile, but it has never used or exported them.

Stockpiling

Peru once held a stockpile totaling 2,012 cluster munitions and 162,417 submunitions, comprised of six variants of two types of air-delivered cluster munitions (BME-330 cluster bombs from Spain, and RBK-series cluster bombs from Russia/Soviet Union) in addition to individual Alpha bomblets made in South Africa.[11]

Cluster munitions once stockpiled by Peru[12]

Peru has adjusted its reported quantity of stockpiled cluster munitions several times since 2013, when it initially declared a stockpile of 676 cluster munitions of three types, and 86,280 submunitions.[13] In 2016, Peru reported an additional 1,331 cluster munitions and 66,894 submunitions.[14] In 2020, it reported that 8,445 Alpha bomblets were discovered during a 2018 inspection of stocks, along with five additional RBK-250-275 AO-1SCh cluster bombs.[15]

Stockpile destruction

Under Article 3 of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, Peru is required to declare and destroy all stockpiled cluster munitions under its jurisdiction or control as soon as possible, but not later than 1 April 2024.

Peru’s initial stockpile destruction deadline was 1 March 2021.[16] However, in March 2020, Peru requested a three-year extension to its deadline for stockpile destruction.[17] In 2021, its stockpile destruction deadline was extended until 1 April 2024.

The Peruvian Air Force is responsible for destroying the stockpiled cluster munitions, which are held at six air bases that it says are “restricted areas to unauthorized military personnel and civilians.”[18] Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA) has provided technical support to Peru’s stockpile destruction activities since 2015.[19]

At the convention’s Tenth Meeting of States Parties in August–September 2022, Peru provided an update on its stockpile destruction, stating that it is striving to complete destruction of the stocks by the end of 2023, in advance of the April 2024 deadline.[20] Peru also announced completion of the destruction of its stockpile of 8,445 Alpha bomblets.

According to Peru’s Article 7 transparency report submitted in May 2023, a total of 1,161 cluster munitions and 50,626 submunitions from its stockpile have been destroyed since the destruction process began in 2017.[21] This includes the destruction of 542 cluster munitions and 34,834 submunitions during 2022.[22]

Previously, in 2021, Peru destroyed 296 cluster munitions and 3,000 Alpha submunitions, and reported that the quantities destroyed were lower than planned due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on stockpile destruction operations.[23]

As of the end of 2022, Peru had 851 cluster munitions and 111,791 submunitions left to destroy from its stocks.

Retention

Since 2013, Peru has reported that it does not intend to retain any cluster munitions for research or training in detection, clearance, and destruction techniques.[24]