Commitment to the Convention on Cluster Munitions

Policy

The Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR) signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 3 December 2008. Lao PDR ratified the convention on 18 March 2009, the fifth country globally and the first in Asia to do so, making it among the first 30 ratifications that triggered the entry into force of the convention on 1 August 2010.

Lao PDR has stated that the relevant articles of its Penal Code will be amended in order to reflect its national implementation obligations as required by Article 9 of the convention.[1] Lao PDR also has a number of regulations on the clearance of cluster munitions and other unexploded ordnance (UXO).[2] The existing legislative measures are described in Lao PDR’s initial Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 7 report, submitted on 25 January 2011.[3] The report covers the 24-year period from 1 January 1996 to 30 November 2010.

As the most heavily affected country in the world, Lao PDR’s support was a crucial element in the success of the Oslo Process that produced the convention. It participated extensively in the Oslo Process and advocated strongly against proposals to weaken the treaty text.[4]

Lao PDR has continued to be centrally engaged in the work of the convention. In 2010, Lao PDR assumed a crucial leadership role as President of the First Meeting of States Parties.

On 9–12 November 2010, Lao PDR hosted the First Meeting of States Parties of the Convention on Cluster Munitions in Vientiane. A total of 122 governments (41 States Parties, 47 signatories, and 34 observer states) participated in the meeting, including a dozen high-level political representatives.[5] The CMC delegation was comprised of 492 campaigners from 80 countries, including 170 participants from Lao PDR. Hundreds of delegates also participated in field visits to Xieng Khouang Province to see firsthand areas affected by cluster munition remnants and other explosive remnants of war (ERW). Some delegates also undertook a field visit to Savannakhet Province.[6] More than two dozen events were held parallel to the First Meeting of States Parties, including a wheelchair basketball match, book and film launches, and a Youth Leaders Forum.

Lao PDR President Choummaly Sayasone spoke in the opening ceremony and appealed to delegates to seize the great opportunity before them to fully implement and realize the objectives and goals of the convention. The official meeting was chaired by Lao PDR’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Thongloun Sisoulith. During the meeting, Lao PDR made statements on universalization, clearance, victim assistance, stockpile destruction, national implementation measures, and transparency measures.

At the First Meeting of States Parties governments adopted the Vientiane Action Plan, a 66-point action plan to turn the legal obligations of the convention into concrete actions, as well as a Vientiane Declaration, which declares that the convention “sets a new standard by which states will be judged.” A reporting format for transparency measures reports was also adopted.

Throughout 2009 and 2010, Lao PDR led preparations for the First Meeting of States Parties.[7] Ministry of Foreign Affairs official Saleumxay Kommasith played a key role coordinating the Lao Support Group: a small, informal group of governments, international organizations, and the CMC that supported preparations for the meeting.

In the first half of 2011, Lao PDR continued to engage in its capacity as President of the First Meeting of States Parties. In June 2011, Lao PDR chaired the convention’s first intersessional meetings in Geneva. During the meetings, Lao PDR made statements on universalization, clearance, victim assistance, transparency measures, cooperation and assistance, and national implementation measures.

Lao PDR has undertaken several efforts to promote the universalization of the convention, which it has described as “one of the key aspects of the convention that can assure its legitimacy.”[8] At the 16^th Ministerial meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) meeting in Bali, Indonesia in May 2011, Lao PDR cooperated with Lebanon to secure language in the final declaration on the Convention on Cluster Munitions. Lao PDR has also promoted the universalization of the convention within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and other fora.[9]

In its capacity as President of the First Meeting of States Parties, Lao PDR issued a statement in April 2011 expressing “serious concern” at Thailand’s recent use of cluster munitions in Cambodia and reminding all parties to the convention of “our legal obligation to promote the norms of the Convention which sets a new standard for the conduct of armed conflict and should be accepted by all.”[10] In June 2011, Lao PDR expressed its “dismay” at the use of cluster munitions in 2011 by Libya and Thailand, which it said “undermines the ban” and noted the need to condemn new use “in line with our core commitments under the convention.”[11]

In 2010 and 2011, the Lao PDR government increased awareness of the convention across the country with a series of national and provincial level seminars on the convention and its obligations.[12] Civil society groups also undertook a range of activities to promote the convention and support the government’s hosting of the First Meeting of States Parties.[13]

Lao PDR is not party to the Mine Ban Treaty.

Interpretive issues

Lao PDR has expressed its views on several important matters related to interpretation and implementation of the convention. In June 2011, a Ministry of Foreign Affairs official informed the Monitor, “With regard to your question on relations with states not party to this convention, we are aware of the different interpretations of the Article 21. For us it is clear that we strongly support the full prohibition of cluster munitions, including those activities during the joint military operations, transiting, foreign stockpiling and investment in the production of cluster munitions.”[14]

Convention on Conventional Weapons

Lao PDR is party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW), but has not ratified CCW Protocol V on explosive remnants of war. Lao PDR actively engaged in CCW talks on cluster munitions in 2010 and the first half of 2011, often stating that it wanted strong text that would complement the Convention on Cluster Munitions and not a weak text that would compromise its provisions.[15]

In November 2010, Lao PDR said it had no objection to continued CCW deliberations on cluster munitions, but noted it would like the meetings “to be as fruitful as possible.”[16] In June 2011, Lao PDR warned that the CCW chair’s text could “undermine” the Convention on Cluster Munitions and described the text as “unacceptable for all of us, especially those that have extensive experience of being a victim” of cluster munitions.[17]

Use, production, transfer, and stockpiling

In its Article 7 report, Lao PDR stated that it “has no stockpiles” of cluster munitions and indicated that it is not retaining any cluster munitions for training and research.[18] Lao PDR also reported that it had no production facilities to decommission.[19] Lao PDR has stated that it has never used, produced, transferred, or stockpiled cluster munitions.[20]

Historic photographic and testimonial evidence shows that the former Royal Lao Air Force used United States (US)-supplied cluster munitions during the Indochina War.

Cluster munition remnants

Between 1964 and 1973, the US dropped more than 2 million tons (2 billion kg) of bombs in Lao PDR, including more than 270 million submunitions.[21] There is no reliable estimate of the extent of residual contamination from unexploded submunitions. Analysis of US bombing records has identified close to 77,000 cluster munition strikes. Taking an average strike “footprint” of 125,000m² has yielded a rough estimate of cluster contamination of 8,750km², about one-tenth of officially cited estimates of overall ERW contamination.[22]

Clearance teams have found 19 types of submunitions during clearance.[23] Unexploded submunitions accounted for half (50.1%) of all items of explosive ordnance cleared in 2010.[24] UXO Lao, Lao PDR’s largest clearance operator, reported in 2011 that during 15 years of operations, submunitions accounted for just under half (49%) of the items cleared.[25]

The critical impact of submunitions (known locally as “bombies”) has given rise to calls for a clearance strategy that prioritizes cluster munition remnants,[26] which the National Regulatory Authority (NRA) identifies as the most common form of residual ERW contamination and which is responsible for close to 30% of all incidents.[27] Bombies are also said to be the type of ERW most feared by the population.[28]

Survey

In 2011, the NRA resumed its District Focused Approach (DFA) survey of contamination and impact.[29] The NRA planned pilot surveys by three operators in three districts, including by Handicap International (HI) in Nong district, Savannakhet province (105 villages); Mines Advisory Group (MAG) in Boualapha district, Khammouane province (81 villages); and Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA) in Ta-Oy district, Salavan province (56 villages). The NRA does not expect the survey to locate all contamination, but rather to identify areas of concern in each district, particularly areas contaminated by cluster munition remnants. The survey will eventually be extended to 85 UXO-contaminated districts in Lao PDR.[30]

The NRA conducted a series of workshops in April and May 2011, to introduce the DFA in districts selected for pilot surveys, and trained survey teams in July. Survey work was expected to start in the three pilot districts in August 2011 and take six to nine months to complete.[31]

Clearance of cluster munition contaminated areas

Lao PDR does not yet disaggregate clearance of cluster munition strikes from other ERW clearance; therefore, clearance figures encompass clearance of all ERW, including, but not limited to, cluster munition remnants (see Table below). In 2010, clearance operators destroyed at least 35,448 unexploded submunitions.

Destruction of submunitions during battle area clearance in 2010[32]

NPA started clearance operations in the last quarter of 2009 with three teams in Saravane and Sekong provinces. Five more teams were added in 2010 as operations expanded into Attapeu province and NPA ended the year with 129 active deminers. NPA plans to add eight more teams in 2011. NPA trialed and won NRA endorsement for land release survey procedures for mapping the footprint of cluster munition strikes that are expected to produce a more precise estimate of contaminated areas and lead to more effective use of clearance assets. NPA has also conducted trials with signature detectors that help to screen out metal fragments and are expected to help accelerate clearance.[33]

Destruction of submunitions during roving operations in 2010[34]

Compliance with Article 4 of the Convention on Cluster Munitions

Under Article 4 of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, Lao PDR is required to destroy all cluster munition remnants in areas under its jurisdiction or control as soon as possible, but not later than 1 August 2020.

With clearance progressing at a rate of approximately 40km² a year and potentially many thousands of square kilometers of contamination to address, it is apparent Lao PDR will not meet its Article 4 clearance deadline. In June 2011, however, Lao PDR informed the convention’s first intersessional meeting that operators were researching new technologies and survey and clearance methodologies to try to accelerate clearance.[35] In 2011, the NRA started work on a 10-year plan for practical steps and targets for implementation of the convention to be undertaken in two phases: 2011−2015 and 2016−2020.[36]

In November 2010, NPA released a report on how Lao PDR could meet the convention’s obligations that noted the work “can be done efficiently and it will not take hundreds of years.” The report noted the need for “a renewed focus on gathering and assessing available data” and recommended the development and use of “structured and relevant survey methods” to ensure “clearance standards appropriate to the context.”[37]

According to the report, operators do not target cluster munition strikes, but regard all threats equally and current clearance strategies do not really assist in removing strike sites as clearance polygons relate more to perceived development priorities than to the strikes. The report suggests that “by dividing the problem into a cluster munition problem and a UXO problem the threat can be more appropriately identified and the response can, as a result, be more efficient and effective.”

The report calls for a general cluster munition assessment followed by a non-technical survey to understand the “footprint” of cluster strikes and technical survey aiming to reduce confirmed hazardous areas to defined tasks. It suggests that clearance focus on cluster munition remnants, that clearance assets be deployed only in relation to cluster strikes, and recommended that operators adopt the principle of clearing the whole strike and not only what has been requested for development or other purposes.[38]

Cluster munition casualties

The NRA did not report which explosive items caused casualties for 2010 and the number of unexploded submunition casualties during the year is not known. However cluster munition remnants continued to cause casualties. In one incident, a 10-year-old girl was killed and her 15-year-old sister was injured by an unexploded submunition in November 2010 during the First Meeting of States Parties.[39]

Unexploded submunitions were reported to have caused 7,571 casualties in the period 1964–2009 (3,170 killed; 4,368 injured; 33 outcome unknown).[40] In 2010 it was estimated that there were approximately 2,500 unexploded submunition survivors in Lao PDR.[41]