Romania
Cluster Munition Ban Policy
Summary
Non-signatory Romania has not taken any steps to accede to the Convention on Cluster Munitions. It has never participated in a meeting of the convention, even as an observer. Romania abstained from voting on a key United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) resolution promoting the convention in December 2022.
Romania states that it has never used or produced cluster munitions, but there is clear evidence of past production. Romania possesses a stockpile of cluster munitions.
Policy
Romania has not acceded to the Convention on Cluster Munitions.
Romania last commented on the convention in 2015, when an official said that Romania was not prepared to join it, but supported efforts aimed at “identifying solutions to all humanitarian problems” raised by cluster munitions.[1]
Romania participated in the Oslo Process that created the Convention on Cluster Munitions, but did not actively contribute to the discussions. It attended a February 2007 conference that launched the Oslo Process but did not endorse the Oslo Declaration, which pledged to conclude in 2008 a legally binding instrument prohibiting cluster munitions that cause unacceptable harm to civilians. Romania participated in the formal negotiations in Dublin in May 2008 only as an observer, and did not join in the consensus adoption of the convention.[2]
Romania participated as an observer at the convention’s Second Meeting of States Parties held in Beirut, Lebanon in September 2011, which marked its first and to date only attendance at a meeting of the convention. Romania was invited to, but did not attend, the convention’s Tenth Meeting of States Parties held in Geneva in August–September 2022.
In December 2022, Romania abstained from voting on the UNGA resolution urging states outside the Convention on Cluster Munitions to “join as soon as possible.”[3] Romania has abstained from voting on the annual UNGA resolution promoting the convention since it was first introduced in 2015. It endorsed a joint UNGA statement on cluster munitions in 2015–2018, which Poland gave on behalf of itself, Romania, and three other European Union (EU) member states that are not party to the convention.[4]
In March 2022, Romania endorsed a statement by the EU Delegation to the United Nations (UN) that condemned Russia’s use of cluster munitions in Ukraine.[5]
Romania is a State Party to the Mine Ban Treaty. It is also party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW).
Use
In 2015, a government representative said, “Romania has never used and does not intend to use cluster munitions in operational theatres.”[6] Romanian officials made similar comments in previous years.[7]
Production and transfer
Romania has stated that it is not a producer of cluster munitions. In a 2011 letter to the Monitor, the Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs asserted that “Romania is not a producer of cluster munition[s].”[8] The Ministry of Foreign Affairs repeated in 2013 that “Romania is not a producer of cluster munition[s].”[9]
There is, however, clear evidence that Romania has produced cluster munitions in the past. The Monitor will continue to list Romania as a cluster munition producer until it formally commits to never produce cluster munitions again.
According to Jane’s Information Group, the company ROMAIR developed and produced the CL-250 cluster bomb, which is described as similar in appearance to the Soviet RBK-250, and reportedly carries BAAT-10 and BF-10T bomblets.[10]
The company Romarm has listed two types of 152mm dual-purpose improved conventional munition (DPICM) artillery projectiles, the CG-540 and CG-540ER, on its website in the past.[11] In 2007, Jane’s Information Group reported that the cluster munitions contained GAA-001 submunitions that were produced by a Romanian company.[12] In July 2023, that company shared the following statement with the Monitor:
Although Romania is not yet a signatory to the Convention on Cluster Munitions, AEROTEH S.A. has decided since 2008 not to be involved in the production of cluster munitions and is firmly committed not to produce any type of components for such ammunition in the future nor to participate in any governmental or industrial cooperation program with other companies for the production or development of cluster munitions.[13]
Stockpiling
Romania possesses a stockpile of cluster munitions, but has not provided information on the quantities and types.[14]
[1] Letter from Amb. Maria Ligor, Embassy of Romania to Canada, to Paul Hannon, Executive Director, Mines Action Canada (MAC), undated but received in the second half of 2015.
[2] For details on Romania’s cluster munition policy and practice through early 2009, see Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Landmine Action, Banning Cluster Munitions: Government Policy and Practice (Ottawa: Mines Action Canada, May 2009), pp. 229–230.
[3] “Implementation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions,” UNGA Resolution 77/79, 7 December 2022.
[4] The joint statement reiterated the need for these states to meet their own “legitimate security concerns and military and defence needs.” The statement has not been undertaken since 2018. See, statement of Poland (on behalf of Estonia, Finland, Greece, and Romania), UNGA First Committee on Disarmament and International Security, New York, 8 November 2018; statement of Poland (on behalf of Estonia, Finland, Greece, and Romania), UNGA First Committee on Disarmament and International Security, New York, 31 October 2017; statement of Poland (on behalf of Estonia, Finland, Greece, and Romania), UNGA First Committee on Disarmament and International Security, New York, 31 October 2016; and statement of Poland (on behalf of Estonia, Finland, Greece, and Romania), UNGA First Committee on Disarmament and International Security, New York, 4 November 2015.
[5] Statement of the EU Delegation, UNGA, New York, 23 March 2022. The statement was made on behalf of EU member states and Albania, Andorra, Estonia, Finland, Georgia, Greece, Iceland, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Moldova, Monaco, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Romania, San Marino, and Ukraine.
[6] Letter from Amb. Maria Ligor, Embassy of Romania to Canada, to Paul Hannon, MAC, undated but received in the second half of 2015.
[7] Letters from Monica Matei, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to Mary Wareham, Advocacy Director, Arms Division, HRW, 29 May 2013; from Doru Costea, Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs, 27 April 2011; from Mihail Dumitru, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to Judith Majlath, CMC-Austria, 24 June 2010; and from Amb. Adrian Vierita, Embassy of Romania to the United States (US), to HRW, 3 March 2009; and email from Eugen Mihut, Permanent Mission of Romania to the UN in New York, 21 October 2010.
[8] Letter from Doru Costea, Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs, 27 April 2011.
[9] Letter from Monica Matei, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to Mary Wareham, HRW, 29 May 2013.
[10] Robert Hewson, ed., Jane’s Air Launched Weapons, Issue 44 (Surrey: Jane’s Information Group, 2004), p. 290.
[11] Romarm, “Artillery Ammunition,” undated.
[12] Jane’s Information Group reported that the submunitions were part of a joint production and marketing venture with Israel Military Industries (IMI). The GAA-001 submunition has been described as identical to the Israeli M85 DPICM submunition. Leland S. Ness and Anthony G. Williams, eds., Jane’s Ammunition Handbook 2007–2008 (Surrey: Jane’s Information Group, 2007), pp. 605–606.
[13] Email to the Monitor from Dumitru Banut, General Director, AEROTEH S.A., 6 July 2023. The letter shared by the company via email refers to the company’s “Statement of Principles” available on its website. It also states that in 2022, an extraordinary general meeting of AEROTEH S.A. shareholders decided “to delete from its object of activity ‘Manufacturing of Armament and Ammunition - CAEN code 2540’…from the industrial activities of our company.” According to the letter, the decision to delete the CAEN code 2540 from the company’s activities “represents also, the commitment of AEROTEH S.A. not to manufacture any type of armaments or ammunition in the future, therefore implicitly no type of components for cluster submunitions.” See, AEROTEH S.A., “Decision of the Extraordinary General Assembly of Shareholders AEROTEH S.A. No. 1 of 08.11.2022,” undated.
[14] In 2011, Romania informed the Monitor that it “does not possess KMGU dispensers, RBK-250, RBK-275, and RBK-500 cluster bombs.” Letter from Doru Costea, Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs, 27 April 2011. Jane’s Information Group has listed Romania as possessing KMG-U dispensers (which deploy submunitions), and RBK-250, RBK-250-275, and RBK-500 cluster bombs.