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Georgia

Last Updated: 17 August 2012

Cluster Munition Ban Policy

Georgia has not acceded to the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

Georgia did not make any statements on the convention in the second half of 2011 or first half of 2012. Previously, in 2010, an official stated, “The Georgian government has expressed its support to the spirit of the Mine Ban Treaty and the Cluster Munitions Convention, but the bitter reality on the ground with reference to the security situation in the region didn’t allow us to adjoin the mentioned conventions. Unfortunately the situation has not changed much and has even worsened security-wise that does not leave us any option other than to stay reluctant to join the conventions until the credible changes occur in the security environment of the region.”[1]

Georgia participated in some meetings of the Oslo Process that created the Convention on Cluster Munitions, but did not make any formal statements.[2] Since 2008, Georgia has shown limited interest in the convention. It participated in an international conference on the convention held in Santiago, Chile in June 2010, but has not participated in any meetings since.

Georgia is party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons and has attended CCW deliberations on cluster munitions, but has rarely made any statements.

Georgia has not joined the Mine Ban Treaty.

Use, production, transfer, and stockpiling

Georgia is not known to have produced or exported cluster munitions. It inherited some air-dropped cluster bombs from the Soviet Union, but these appear to be obsolete and slated for destruction.[3] Georgia acquired 160mm surface-to-surface rockets equipped with cluster munition payloads from Israel in 2007.[4]

Cluster munitions were used by both Georgian and Russian forces during their conflict in August 2008 resulting in a small residual threat. Georgian forces used M85 submunitions delivered by Mk.-4 160mm unguided surface-to-surface rockets, weapons that it bought pre-packaged from Israel. The Ministry of Defense said Georgia launched 24 volleys of 13 Mk.-4 rockets each.[5]

On 31 August 2008, the Ministry of Defense acknowledged that the Georgian Armed Forces used cluster munitions against the Russian military near the Roki tunnel.[6] However, remnants of Georgian cluster munitions were also found by Human Rights Watch in civilian areas in the north of Gori district, south of the South Ossetian administrative border.[7]

 



[1] Letter No. 8/37-02 from Amb. Giorgi Gorgiladze, Permanent Mission of Georgia to the UN in Geneva, 30 April 2010.

[2] For details on Georgia’s policy and practice regarding cluster munitions through early 2009, see Human Rights Watch and Landmine Action, Banning Cluster Munitions: Government Policy and Practice (Ottawa: Mines Action Canada, May 2009), pp. 205–207.

[3] In 2004 and 2007, Jane’s Information Group reported that the Georgian Air Force had KMGU and RBK-500 cluster bombs, both of which can carry a variety of submunitions. The Georgian Ministry of Defense told Human Rights Watch in February 2009 that it still has RBK-500 cluster munitions and BKF blocks of submunitions that are delivered by KMGUs, but that their shelf-lives have expired and they are slated for destruction. First Deputy Minister of Defense Batu Kutelia said its air force planes are not fitted for delivering these air-dropped weapons. See Human Rights Watch and Landmine Action, Banning Cluster Munitions: Government Policy and Practice (Ottawa: Mines Action Canada, May 2009), p. 207.

[4] The transfer of the launchers was reported in: Submission of Georgia, UN Register of Conventional Arms, Report for Calendar Year 2007, 7 July 2008.

[5] “Some Facts,” attachment to email from David Nardaia, Head, Analytical Department, Ministry of Defense, 18 November 2008. The rockets would have carried 32,448 M85 submunitions.

[6] Ministry of Foreign Affairs, “Response to Human Rights Watch inquiry about the use of M85 bomblets,” 2 September 2008, georgiamfa.blogspot.com.

[7] For more information, see Human Rights Watch and Landmine Action, Banning Cluster Munitions: Government Policy and Practice (Ottawa: Mines Action Canada, May 2009), p. 206; and Human Rights Watch, “A Dying Practice: Use of Cluster Munitions by Russia and Georgia in August 2008,” April 2009, p. 57, www.hrw.org. The Georgian Ministry of Defense said in February 2009 that it is investigating the possibility of “failure of the weapons system.” During the conflict, Abkhazian and Russian forces moved into the upper Kodori Gorge and retook it from Georgian forces. Abkhazia has asserted that Georgia fired large numbers of cluster munitions with M095 submunitions from LAR-160 rockets in the Kodori Valley. Email from Maxim Gunjia, Deputy Foreign Minister of Abkhazia, 24 August 2009. The deputy foreign minister provided photographs of submunitions and containers. The M095 is described as an M85-type submunition. The Monitor has not been able to independently investigate and confirm this information.