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Cluster Munition Ban Policy
The Republic of Serbia has not yet acceded to the Convention on Cluster Munitions, even though it played an important role in the Oslo Process that produced the convention.
In February 2011, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that accession to the convention is being considered.[1] Previously, in 2009, Minister of Defense Dragan Šutanovac stated that Serbia could not give up its cluster munitions because it did not have the capacity to replace them and said, “We cannot…give up something that we are still using.”[2] According to the Ministry of Defense, the signing of the convention was blocked by the Army General Staff because, it argued, cluster munitions constitute a significant part of the army’s arsenal and would be too costly to destroy as well as replace.[3]
In October 2007, Minister of Foreign Affairs Vuk Jeremić stated that Serbia was considering enacting a unilateral moratorium on the use of cluster munitions.[4] In February 2011, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated the proposed moratorium was no longer being discussed as it falls under general discussions on joining the convention.[5]
Serbia played a leadership role throughout the Oslo Process, most notably by hosting a conference for states affected by cluster munitions in Belgrade in October 2007.[6] It actively participated in the formal negotiations in Dublin in May 2008 and joined in the consensus adoption of the convention text at the conclusion. However, Serbia attended the Convention on Cluster Munitions Signing Conference in Oslo in December 2008 only as an observer, and did not at the time provide an explanation for not signing.
Since 2008, Serbia has shown limited interest in the convention. It was invited to, but did not attend, the First Meeting of States Parties to the Convention on Cluster Munitions in Vientiane, Lao PDR in November 2010. Serbia participated in a regional workshop on cluster munitions held in Zagreb, Croatia on 23–26 May 2011, where it made a statement on clearance.[7] Serbia did not participate in intersessional meetings of the convention held in Geneva in June 2011.
Civil society from Serbia, including cluster munition survivors, participated in both the First Meeting of States Parties and intersessional meetings and have continued to advocate for Serbia to accede to the Convention on Cluster Munitions without delay.[8]
Serbia is party to the Mine Ban Treaty. It is also party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW), but has yet to ratify CCW Protocol V on explosive remnants of war and has not actively engaged in CCW deliberations on cluster munitions in recent years.
Use, production, transfer, and stockpiling
Cluster munitions were used by the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY) as well as ethnic militias and secessionist forces during the conflicts resulting from the breakup of Yugoslavia starting in 1991. Forces of the successor, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, used cluster munitions during the 1998–1999 conflict in Kosovo. Yugoslav forces also launched several cluster rocket attacks into border regions controlled by Albania. Additionally, aircraft from the Netherlands, United Kingdom (UK), and the United States (US) dropped cluster bombs in Serbia and Kosovo during the 1999 air campaign by NATO.[9]
On 6 July 2011, the Ministry of Defense stated that the “Republic of Serbia is not a producer of cluster munitions.”[10] In 2009, Serbia stated that it does not have the capacity to produce cluster munitions and has not produced cluster munitions since the dissolution of the SFRY.[11] According to standard reference works, Serbia was thought to have inherited some of those production capabilities.[12]
As of July 2011, a number of Serbian companies were advertising surface-to-surface rocket launchers, rockets, and artillery that could be used with either unitary warheads or submunitions.[13]
The Center for Weapons Testing of Serbia’s Ministry of Defense published an article describing a “very demanding testing” of Orkan rockets on 22 March 2011 at its Nikinci firing range, but it is not known if submunitions were used as Orkan rockets are capable of firing both cluster and unitary munitions.[14]
The precise size and composition of Serbia’s stockpile of cluster munitions is not known, but it is thought to be a large stockpile, and to include air-delivered cluster bombs, ground-launched rockets, and artillery projectiles. Jane’s Information Group lists Serbia as possessing BL-755 cluster bombs.[15] Assuming Serbia’s stockpile contains cluster munitions that were produced by Yugoslavia, it may also possess 152mm 3-O-23 artillery projectiles (containing 63 KB-2 submunitions) and 262mm M87 Orkan surface-to-surface rockets (containing 288 KB-1 submunitions). KB submunitions are the dual purpose improved conventional munition (DPICM) type. It may also possess RAB-120 and KPT-150 cluster bombs.[16]
In February 2011, the Ministry of Economy and Regional Development informed the Monitor that it has no records in its database on any foreign trade involving cluster munitions in the period from 2005 to 2010.[17]
On 14 February 2011, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs informed the Monitor that information on stockpiling, production, and transfer of cluster munitions was not within its mandate, but rather the responsibility of the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Economy and Regional Development.[18] On the same day, the Ministry of Defense informed the Monitor that had no information on Serbia’s stockpiled cluster munitions and said that information on stockpiled cluster munitions as well as transfers were “not within the mandate of the Ministry of Defense.”[19]
Cluster munition remnants
Serbia has a significant problem with cluster munition remnants resulting from the NATO air strikes in 1999. According to Serbia, NATO cluster munitions struck 16 municipalities: Brus, Bujanovac, Čačak, Gadžin Han, Kraljevo, Knić, Kuršumlija, Leposavić, Niš city-Crveni Krst, Niš city-Medijana, Preševo, Raška, Sjenica, Sopot, Stara Pazova, and Vladimirci.[20]
After re-investigating a 30km2 area identified as suspect by a 2008 Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA) survey, the Serbian Mine Action Center (SMAC) confirmed 290 areas as hazardous over an estimated total of 14.9km2 and identified 110 suspected hazardous areas (SHAs) affecting an estimated total of 6.1km2 still to verify. SMAC planned to complete survey of the unverified areas by the end of 2011 and said in June 2011 it expected the total area of contamination would ultimately amount to about 15km2. [21]
The NPA survey, which was completed in November 2008, identified 28 local communities with about 162,000 inhabitants as affected by cluster munition remnants. The survey found that 88,000 people lived in the immediate vicinity of a suspected area and were exposed to daily risk. Of these, two-thirds live in Duvanište, a suburb of the city of Niš. NPA found that unexploded submunitions mostly denied access to agricultural land (one-third of the total suspect area), impeded reconstruction of community infrastructure and utilities (19.9%), or prevented the reconstruction of housing (14.2%).[22]
Clearance of cluster munition contaminated areas
During 2010, four demining organizations with a total of 151 clearance personnel cleared cluster munition remnants in Serbia: PMC Inženjering, DOK-ING razminiranje, Enigma, and UXB Balkans. Those four organizations released a total of 0.84km2 of SHA, which was more than in 2009, but still less than the amount released in 2008.[23] The slow pace of clearance is explained by lack of funding. The price of cluster munition clearance in 2010 varied between €0.85 (US$1) to €1.2 ($2)per m2 depending on location.[24]
Cluster munition clearance in 2010[25]
|
Operator |
Area cleared (km2) |
No. of unexploded submunitions destroyed |
|
PMC Inženjering |
0.12 |
6 |
|
DOK-ING razminiranje |
0.14 |
1 |
|
Enigma |
0.12 |
2 |
|
UXB Balkans |
0.43 |
4 |
|
Totals |
0.81 |
13 |
Risk reduction education
SMAC developed a new bilingual unexploded ordnance (UXO)/submunition warning sign in Serbian and Albanian in 2008.[26] A total of 250 new UXO/submunition warning signs were placed in cluster munition-affected areas during 2009 and 300 in 2010.[27]
Casualties
No casualties from cluster munition remnants were identified in Serbia in 2010.[28] On 29 May 2010, two boys were injured in an explosion in Niš, an area known to be affected by cluster munition remnants. The device type causing the explosion was unknown and thus the incident was not included in the total of mine/ERW casualties.[29] In 2009, also in Niš, a man was killed by what was initially suspected to be an unexploded submunition, but the cause of the explosion was not confirmed.[30]
At least 78 casualties occurred during cluster munition strikes in Serbia. A further 16 casualties were caused by unexploded submunitions between 1999 and 2006. Cluster munitions are estimated to have caused more than 100 additional unreported casualties in Serbia during strikes on Niš. Furthermore, unexploded submunitions are known to have caused casualties in several regions, which were not reported to the authorities.[31] A survey by NPA identified 191 cluster munition casualties (31 killed; 160 injured) for the period between 1999 and 2008, but details were not provided and the report did not differentiate between casualties during strikes and those caused by unexploded submunitions.[32]
[1] Email from Zoran Vujic, Assistant to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sector for Security Policy, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 14 February 2011.
[2] “Cluster munitions indispensable,” B92 News (Belgrade), 27 August 2009, www.b92.net.
[3] “General Staff blocking the signing,” Danas (daily newspaper), 26 August 2009. The article quotes Petar Bošković, Public Relations Department, Ministry of Defense.
[4] “Cluster Bomb Conference in Belgrade,” B92 News (Belgrade), 3 October 2007, www.b92.net.
[5] Email from Zoran Vujic, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 14 February 2011.
[6] For more details on Serbia’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. 236–238.
[7] Statement of Croatia, Convention on Cluster Munitions Intersessional Meeting, Session on Universalization, Geneva, 27 June 2011. Notes by Action on Armed Violence.
[8] For example, to commemorate the convention’s entry into force on 1 August 2010, a concert featuring Serbia’s most renowned drummer, Dragoljub Đuričić, and 23 other artists was held at Nikola Pašić Square in Belgrade. Hundreds of signatures were collected on a petition urging the Serbian government to join the convention. CMC, “Entry into force of the Convention on Cluster Munitions Report: 1 August 2010,” November 2010, p. 25.
[9] Human Rights Watch, “Civilian Deaths in the NATO Air Campaign,” Vol. 12, No. 1(D), February 2000; NPA, “Yellow Killers: The Impact of Cluster Munitions in Serbia and Montenegro,” 2007; and NPA, “Report on the Impact of Unexploded Cluster Munitions in Serbia,” January 2009.
[10] Letter from the Public Relations Department, Ministry of Defense, 6 July 2011.
[11] Letter No. 235/1 from Dr. Slobodan Vukcevic, Permanent Mission of Serbia to the UN in Geneva, 9 February 2009.
[12] See Human Rights Watch and Landmine Action, Banning Cluster Munitions: Government Policy and Practice (Ottawa: Mines Action Canada, May 2009), p. 238.
[13] On its website, Engine Development and Production Serbia (EDEPRO Serbia) advertised improvements to the range of Orkan surface-to-surface rockets. On its website, Yugoimport–SDPR also advertised artillery that could fire cluster munitions. At an arms fair held in Belgrade in July 2011, the ORKAN and OGANJ MLRS systems were showcased, along with an upgraded version of the OGANJ called the LRSVM (Self-Propelled Multiple Modular Rocket Launcher, Lanser Raketa Samohodni Višecevni Modularni), capable of delivering both cluster and unitary munitions. See, EDEPRO Serbia website, “Artillery Rocket, R267mm,” www.edepro.com; and email from Jelena Vicentic, Executive Director, Assistance Advocacy Access–Serbia, 4 July 2011.
[14] Mira Švedić, “Velika obnova” (The great renewal), Odbrana, Directorate of Public Relations, Ministry of Defense, 1 April 2011.
[15] Robert Hewson, ed., Jane’s Air-Launched Weapons, Issue 44 (Surrey, UK: Jane’s Information Group Limited, 2004), p. 845.
[16] For information on Yugoslav production of these weapons see, Robert Hewson, ed., Jane’s Air-Launched Weapons, Issue 44 (Surrey, UK: Jane’s Information Group Limited, 2004), p. 291; Terry J. Gandler and Charles Q. Cutshaw, eds., Jane’s Ammunition Handbook 2001–2002 (Surrey, UK: Jane’s Information Group Limited, 2001), p. 641; Leland S. Ness and Anthony G. Williams, eds., Jane’s Ammunition Handbook 2007–2008 (Surrey, UK: Jane’s Information Group Limited, 2007), pp. 598–599, 720; and, US Defense Intelligence Agency, “Improved Conventional Munitions and Selected Controlled-Fragmentation Munitions (Current and Projected) DST-1160S-020-90.”
[17] According to the Ministry, publicly available reports on the transfers of controlled goods for 2005–2006, 2007, and 2008 provide sufficient evidence that there were no imports or exports of cluster munitions. While the reports for 2009 and 2010 had yet to be published, the Ministry stated that it could confirm that there were no records in its database of licenses issued in 2009 or 2010 for the import or export of cluster munitions. Email from Jasmina Roskić, Head of Division for Agreements on Bilateral Promotion and Protection of Investments, Concessions, and Foreign Trade in Controlled Goods, Ministry of Economy and Regional Development, 16 February 2011. See also, “Annual Report on the Realization of Foreign Trade Transfers of Controlled Goods for 2005 and 2006,” Ministry of Economy and Regional Development, Belgrade, 2007; “Annual Report on the Transfers of Controlled Goods in 2007,” Ministry of Economy and Regional Development, Belgrade, 2009; and “Annual Report on the Transfers of Controlled Goods in 2008,” Ministry of Economy and Regional Development, Belgrade, 2010.
[18] Email from Zoran Vujic, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 14 February 2011.
[19] Telephone interview with Capt. Jovan Krivokapić, Department of Public Relations, Ministry of Defense, 14 February 2011; and email from Department of Public Relations, Ministry of Defense, 14 February 2011.
[20] Statement of Serbia, Standing Committee on Mine Clearance, Mine Risk Education and Mine Action Technologies, Geneva, 21 June 2011; and interview with Petar Mihajlović, Director, and Slađana Košutić, International Cooperation Advisor, SMAC, Belgrade, 25 March 2011.
[21] Ibid.
[22] NPA, “Report on impact of unexploded cluster submunitions in Serbia,” Belgrade, January 2009, pp. 43, 47.
[23] Email from Slađana Košutić, SMAC, 28 March 2011.
[24] Interview with Petar Mihajlović and Slađana Košutić, SMAC, Belgrade, 25 March 2011. Average exchange rate for 2010: €1=US$1.3261. US Federal Reserve, “List of Exchange Rates (Annual),” 6 January 2011.
[25] Email from Slađana Košutić, SMAC, 28 March 2011; and telephone interview with Stoja Pejic, Program Manager, PMC Inženjering, Belgrade, 2 August 2011.
[26] Interview with Petar Mihajlović and Slađana Košutić, SMAC, Belgrade, 26 April 2010.
[27] Telephone interview with Slađana Košutić, SMAC, 10 August 2010; and interview with Petar Mihajlović and Slađana Košutić, SMAC, Belgrade, 25 March 2011.
[28] Fax from Petrovic Dragan, Officer in Charge, Bureau for Information of Public Importance, Cabinet of the Minister, Ministry of Interior, 12 April 2011.
[29] “Decaci povredjeni u eksploziji u Nisu” (“Boys injured in an explosion in Niš”), Juzne vesti (Niš), 30 May 2010, www.juznevesti.com.
[30] “Razneo se bombom kasikarom!” (“Blew himself up with a hand grenade!”), Press (Niš), 20 July 2009, www.pressonline.rs; M. Smiljković, “Razneo se kasikarom pored Nisave” (“Blew himself up with a hand grenade on Nisava river bank”), Blic (daily newspaper), 19 July 2009, www.blic.rs.
[31] NPA, “Yellow Killers, the Impact of Cluster Munitions in Serbia and Montenegro,” (NPA: Belgrade, January 2007), pp. 39, 56.
[32] NPA, “Report on the impact of unexploded cluster submunitions in Serbia,” (NPA: Belgrade, January 2009), p. 10.
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