Finland

The Republic of Finland has not acceded to the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

In a March 2011 letter to the Monitor, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that, “Finland regards the Convention on Cluster Munitions [as] important from the humanitarian standpoint” and “supports the goals of the Convention as well as the efforts towards its universalisation.”[1] According to the letter, Finland is monitoring implementation of the convention and undertaking a study of “the Defence Force’s capabilities and the international development work on cluster munitions, procurement options and costs.”[2] The letter also cited Finland’s support for the negotiation of a protocol on cluster munitions in the framework of the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW).[3]

This is the same position as articulated in 2010 and laid out in a 2009 report by the government on “Finnish Security and Defense Policy.”[4] The 2009 report stated that while Finland is not a party, the convention nonetheless “significantly impacts Finland’s defence and its resource requirements.”[5] The report declares, “Once a study relating to the Defence Forces’ capabilities has been completed and the international development work on cluster munitions, procurement options and costs have been analysed, the Oslo Convention will be reassessed. The Cabinet Committee on Foreign and Security Policy will review the developments yearly.”[6]

In December 2010, the Office of the Prime Minister announced that implementation of the convention had been discussed during a 3 December 2010 meeting of the President of the Finland and the Cabinet Committee on Foreign and Security Policy, but did not provide any further details.[7]

Finland participated throughout the Oslo Process that created the Convention, but consistently expressed reservations about the process and the convention text and was not supportive of a broad categorical ban on cluster munitions.[8] Finland joined the consensus adoption of the convention at the end of the negotiations in May 2008, but five months later announced that it would not sign the convention in Oslo in December 2008.[9] At the time, Minister of Defense Jyri Häkämies stated that, “cluster munitions play an important role in the credibility [and] autonomy…of Finnish defense.” The Finnish military claimed that due to costs and other factors it would not be possible to replace Finland’s stockpile of cluster munitions with alternative weapons within five to 10 years.[10] Finland has also cited security concerns over its border with Russia for its refusal to sign the convention.[11]

Finland is the only European Union country not to have signed, ratified, or acceded to the Mine Ban Treaty. Finland has, however, stated its intention to join the treaty in 2012 and to destroy its stockpiles of antipersonnel mines by 2016.[12]

Finland has continued to participate in the work of the Convention on Cluster Munitions in 2010 and the first half of 2011. It attended the First Meeting of States Parties to the Convention on Cluster Munitions in Vientiane, Lao PDR in November 2010 as an observer and also participated in the convention’s intersessional meetings in June 2011. Finland did not make any statements at these meetings.

The Finnish Campaign to Ban Landmines has campaigned in support of the Convention on Cluster Munitions.[13]  

Convention on Conventional Weapons

Finland is party to CCW and its Protocol V on explosive remnants of war. Finland participated in CCW meetings on cluster munitions in 2010 and the first half of 2011, but did not make any statement on its views on the chair’s draft text under consideration. In April 2011, Finland informed the Monitor that it supports continued CCW discussions on cluster munitions.[14]

Use, production, transfer, and stockpiling

According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, “Finland does not produce cluster munitions nor has is never [sic] used them.”[15]

In early 2005, Patria, a Finnish company, made arrangements to co-produce a 120mm cluster munition mortar projectile called MAT-120, which was developed and produced by the Spanish company Instalaza SA. The deal was cancelled in 2009 by Patria and the Finnish Defense Forces after Spain enacted a national prohibition on cluster munitions and signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions in 2008. During the development of the program, Patria imported to Finland 305 “live” MAT-120 mortar projectiles from Spain in 2005–2007 and also acquired 230 inert MAT-120 projectiles. As of July 2011, a total of 136 “live” MAT-120 projectiles remained in the custody of the Finnish Defense Forces; none of the MAT-120 projectiles imported to Finland were exported.[16]

In 2010, a Ministry of Defense official stated that information on the size and composition of Finland’s stockpile of cluster munitions was confidential.[17] Finland has acknowledged possessing one type of cluster munition: the DM-662 155mm artillery projectile, which contains 49 dual purpose improved conventional munition (DPICM) submunitions with back-up self-destruct fuzes.[18]

In 2006, the Ministry of Defense of the Netherlands announced the transfer of 18 Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS) launchers to Finland.[19] It was reported that 400 M26 rockets (each containing 644 M77 DPICM submunitions) were to be included in the sale for qualification testing and conversion into training rockets.[20]