Austria

The Republic of Austria signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions in Oslo on 3 December 2008. Austria became the sixth country to formally ratify the convention when it deposited its legal instrument of ratification at the UN in New York on 2 April 2009.^[1]

Austria announced a national moratorium on the use of cluster munitions in February 2007 and was the second country in the world to enact a comprehensive national ban on cluster munitions. The law was adopted in December 2007 and entered into force on 8 January 2008.^[2]

Austria was a member of the small “Core Group” of nations that took responsibility for the Oslo Process and the development of the Convention on Cluster Munitions outside of traditional diplomatic fora. It hosted a key meeting of the Oslo Process in Vienna in December 2007. Austria played a pivotal role in securing the convention’s ground-breaking provisions on victim assistance.

Austria is party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) and ratified Protocol V on Explosive Remnants of War on 1 October 2007.

Cluster Munition Ban Policy

Austria was one of the earliest supporters of international efforts to deal with cluster munitions. In July 2006, the Austrian Parliament passed a resolution urging the government to support an international treaty against cluster munitions with high failure rates.^[3]

During the Third Review Conference of the CCW in November 2006, Austria was one of six countries that tabled a proposal for a mandate to negotiate a legally-binding instrument “that addresses the humanitarian concerns posed by cluster munitions.”^[4] When other CCW States Parties rejected such a mandate, Austria joined 24 other nations in supporting a declaration calling for an international agreement that would prohibit the use of cluster munitions “within concentrations of civilians,” prohibit the use of cluster munitions that “pose serious humanitarian hazards because they are for example unreliable and/or inaccurate,” and require destruction of stockpiles of such cluster munitions.^[5]

Norway then announced that it would start an independent process outside the CCW to negotiate a treaty banning cluster munitions that cause unacceptable harm to civilians, and invited other governments to join. A voluntary “Core Group” of countries emerged to take responsibility for moving forward what became known as the Oslo Process, and Austria was one of six initial countries in the Core Group.

In January 2007, Austria’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Ursula Plassnik pledged Austria’s “full support” for the Norwegian-led initiative, adding, “We aim at effective regulations to provide better protection for the civilian population. As a first step there is a need above all to ban cluster munitions posing an unacceptably high risk for people. Our long-term objective should be a total ban of these munitions, which even years after the cessation of conflicts kill and maim human beings.”^[6]

Austria was one of the most active participants throughout the Oslo Process, from the international conference to launch the process in February 2007, to the three subsequent international conferences to develop the convention text in Lima, Vienna (as the host), and Wellington, to the formal negotiations in Dublin in May 2008. It also attended regional conferences in Phnom Penh (March 2007), Brussels (October 2007), and Beirut (November 2008).

At the Oslo conference in February 2007, Austria gave a keynote address in which it announced a national moratorium on the use of cluster munitions.^[7] It was one of 46 countries to endorse the Oslo Declaration, committing states to conclude in 2008 a new convention prohibiting cluster munitions that cause unacceptable harm to civilians.

During the Lima conference in May 2007, Austria assumed the leadership role on victim assistance that it would play throughout the Oslo Process. Austria called for a separate article on victim assistance in the future convention and argued that the term victim should be broader than the individual, encompassing “the family of a victim…and even the community of the victim.” Austria stated that victim assistance “not only relates to the most obvious issues such as emergency care, but it also relates to rehabilitation, psychological care, social reintegration, economic reintegration, and financial care.” Austria highlighted the issue of long-term psychological care and rehabilitation as of primary importance, based on lessons learned in the context of the Mine Ban Treaty. Austria called for a reference to the human rights of victims, which it said would help shape the legal framework of victim assistance, along with the new Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.^[8]

On the eve of the Vienna Conference on Cluster Munitions, on 4 December 2007, Austria hosted an International Parliamentary Forum, attended by 48 parliamentarians from 26 countries, including nine participants from countries not participating in the Oslo Process. The forum generated increased support from parliamentarians for a comprehensive ban, and strong provisions for victim assistance and for the clearance of submunitions.^[9]

The Vienna Conference on Cluster Munitions, held from 5–7 December 2007, was opened by Austria’s Minister of Foreign Affairs with the announcement that the Austrian parliament would adopt a national law banning cluster munitions.^[10] The law was enacted by the National Council and the Federal Council on 6 and 20 December 2007, respectively, and it entered into force on 8 January 2008.^[11]

Austria became the second country after Belgium to pass national legislation on cluster munitions. Austria’s Federal Act on the Prohibition of Cluster Munitions prohibits “the development, production, acquisition, sale, procurement, import, export, transit, use and possession of cluster munitions” in Austria. It requires that existing stocks of cluster munitions must be reported to the Federal Ministry of Defense within one month after its entry into force and destroyed within a maximum of three years.^[12]

During the Vienna conference, Austria continued to prioritize victim assistance issues. It also worked against proposals it saw as weakening the treaty, including exceptions for cluster munitions based on self-destruct mechanisms or failure rates, a provision to facilitate “interoperability” (joint military operations with states not party), and a provision to allow the retention of cluster munitions for training or research purposes.^[13] At the closing of the conference, Austria noted the consensus for strong provisions on victim assistance, thanked the survivors of cluster munitions who had participated in the conference, and commended them for their courage and input as the most credible ban advocates.^[14]

The CMC called the conference a great success, noting the attendance of an astounding 138 nations, and hailing the emerging consensus on important provisions in the future convention, including victim assistance, clearance, stockpile destruction, and international cooperation and assistance.^[15]

At the Wellington conference in February 2008, Austria recommended building on what it called the “Vienna Consensus on Victim Assistance” by adding language on the inclusion of victims in various levels of decision-making, national focal points, and national action plans.^[16] Austria questioned the adequacy of many of the technical characteristics proposed by others as a solution to the humanitarian problems caused by cluster munitions.^[17] On interoperability, Austria stated that it had concluded that its national penal law acted as a filter to protect service people from unjust prosecutions in instances where others may use cluster munitions. Austria said it was possible that in the future it might not be able to participate, or consciously choose not to participate in joint military operations where cluster munitions might be used.^[18]

During the formal negotiations in Dublin in May 2008, Austria served as Friend of the President for discussions on victim assistance and was key to the acceptance of provisions that have been widely described as ground-breaking. Austria opposed the proposal to exclude from prohibition certain weapons with a small number of submunitions that met five technical criteria; however, states eventually agreed to this proposal on the grounds that such weapons would not have the negative humanitarian effects of cluster munitions.^[19] Austria continued to argue against provisions on interoperability and the inclusion of a transition period.^[20]

Upon the adoption of the convention, Austria said it had consistently supported a wider prohibition on cluster munitions, and said the language on interoperability was not the best that could have been achieved.^[21] However, it praised the convention’s exceptional provisions on victim assistance, international cooperation and assistance, and clearance as setting new standards in international law. Austria declared feeling a “bond” with the newly negotiated text akin to the bond of a parent with a child: “It is not perfect…but we are proud of it nevertheless.”^[22]

In June 2008, the CMC Austria Section received Austria’s Media Award 2008 for its advertising campaign “Were this flyer a cluster bomb, you would be dead.” The campaign was created on the occasion of the Vienna Conference on Cluster Munitions.^[23]

In July 2008, during a CCW session on cluster munitions, Austria was among a group of countries stating that the new Convention on Cluster Munitions should be the standard on cluster munitions and that it was not prepared to accept lower standards in a proposed CCW protocol.^[24] In November 2008, Austria was one of 26 states that issued a joint statement expressing their opposition to the weak draft text on a possible CCW protocol on cluster munitions, indicating it was an unacceptable step back from the standards set by the Convention on Cluster Munitions.^[25]

At the November 2008 Conference of High Contracting Parties to CCW Protocol V on Explosive Remnants of War, Austria secured the adoption of a politically-binding Plan of Action on Victim Assistance under Protocol V. This plan was modeled on the victim assistance provisions of the Convention on Cluster Munitions.^[26]

Upon signing the convention in Oslo on 3 December 2008, Austria’s ambassador stated that Austria was convinced that the convention would succeed in practice for two primary reasons: its comprehensive ban on cluster munitions as an entire category of weapons, with no broad exceptions or transition period; and, its provisions on victim assistance, which set new humanitarian standards and formed the “heart and soul” of the convention. Austria pledged that one priority of its newly elected government “is to ratify the Cluster Munitions Convention as soon as possible and to make the best contribution in the implementation phase.”^[27]

On 12 March 2009, the Austrian National Council approved two motions relating to the convention. The first was for an amendment to Austria’s national law banning cluster munitions to bring its definition of cluster munitions in line with the definition in the convention. The second motion authorized the National Council to ratify the convention. On 26 March, the Federal Council assented to both motions.^[28] Austria formally deposited its instrument of ratification with the UN on 2 April 2009.

Use, Production, Transfer, and Stockpiling

Austria is not believed to have used, produced, or exported cluster munitions. Austria imported from Germany two types of 155mm artillery projectiles: DM-642 and DM-652. These contain dual purpose improved conventional munition (DPICM) submunitions (63 and 49 submunitions each, respectively) equipped with back-up self-destruct fuzes.^[29]

In June 2007, the Minister of Defense told the Parliament that the Austrian Armed Forces were stockpiling 12,672 “Hohlladungssprengkörpergranaten 92,” another name for the 155mm artillery projectiles. The minister reported that these cluster munitions were procured in 1998 and 1999 for €10.44 million, and that destruction costs would amount to €1 million.^[30]

Austria’s national law requires destruction within three years, which would be January 2011. Upon ratifying the convention, Austria said that it expected its stocks to be destroyed by the end of 2009.^[31]