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Jordan
The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan has not signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions. Jordan is party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW), but has not ratified Protocol V on Explosive Remnants of War.
Jordan displayed early concern about the humanitarian impact of cluster munitions. During a CCW meeting in June 2006, Jordan stated that “cluster bombs are not a safe weapon” due to their inaccuracy and propensity to leave unexploded ordnance, and called for an extensive discussion of the issue “in the near future.”[1]
Jordan participated in the initial conference to launch the Oslo Process in February 2007 and endorsed the Oslo Declaration, which committed states to conclude a new convention prohibiting cluster munitions in 2008. At the time Jordan said it fully supported the declaration, looked forward to participating in the future Oslo Process meetings, and hoped for successful completion of a treaty by 2008.[2]
Subsequently, Jordan only attended one other major Oslo Process meeting—in Vienna in December 2007, where it did not make any statements. It did not participate in the other international conferences to develop the convention in Lima or Wellington, and did not attend the formal negotiations in Dublin in May 2008.[3] Jordan was not an active participant in CCW discussions on cluster munitions in 2008.
In early March 2009, CMC staff held a meeting with an official of the Jordanian Embassy in London. The official, who indicated she had been in contact with authorities in capital about the issue, stated that Jordan considered the convention as the second most important disarmament treaty after the Mine Ban Treaty.[4] She stated that in principle Jordan sees no impediment to joining, and said that relevant authorities in Amman were actively considering the convention. [5]
Jordan is not believed to have used or produced cluster munitions, but it has a stockpile of imported cluster munitions. The United States transferred 31,704 artillery projectiles (M509A1, M483) containing over 3 million dual purpose improved conventional munitions (DPICM) submunitions to Jordan in 1995 as these were being phased out of the US inventory.[6] According to US export records, Jordan also imported 200 CBU-71 and 150 Rockeye cluster bombs at some point between 1970 and 1995.[7]
[1] Statement of Jordan, Fourteenth Session of the CCW Group of Governmental Experts, Geneva, 20 June 2006.
[2] Statement of Jordan, Oslo Conference on Cluster Munitions, 23 February 2007. Notes by CMC/WILPF.
[3] Jordan attended smaller regional conferences on cluster munitions in Phnom Penh (March 2007), and Beirut (November 2008).
[4] Jordan’s relative absence of support for the Oslo Process has stood in noticeable contrast to its very active role in the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty, including hosting the Eighth Meeting of States Parties in November 2007. His Royal Highness Prince Mired Raad al-Hussein presided as the President of the Eighth Meeting of States Parties and on several occasions publicly stated his support for the Oslo Process and the draft convention.
[5] Email from Thomas Nash, Coordinator, CMC, 4 March 2009; CMC, “CMC Newsletter,” Issue 7, February 2009, www.stopclustermunitions.org.
[6] US Defense Security Cooperation Agency, Department of Defense, “Excess Defense Articles,” online database, www.dsca.osd.mil.
[7] US Defense Security Assistance Agency, Department of Defense, “Cluster Bomb Exports under FMS, FY1970-FY1995,” 15 November 1995, obtained by Human Rights Watch in a Freedom of Information Act request, 28 November 1995.