Cameroon
Cluster Munition Ban Policy
Five-Year Review: State Party Cameroon ratified the convention on 12 July 2012. It is unclear if Cameroon will adopt implementing legislation for the convention as it has yet to provide its transparency report for the convention, originally due June 2013. Cameroon has participated in all of the convention’s Meetings of States Parties and it has elaborated its views on certain important issues relating to the interpretation and implementation of the convention. Cameroon states that it has not used, produced, transferred, or stockpiled cluster munitions.
Policy
The Republic of Cameroon signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 15 December 2009, ratified on 12 July 2012, and the convention entered into force for the country on 1 January 2013.
It is not known if specific legislation measures will be undertaken to enforce the Convention on Cluster Munitions domestically.[1]
As of 3 July 2015, Cameroon has not submitted its initial Article 7 transparency report for the Convention on Cluster Munitions, which was originally due by 30 June 2013.
Cameroon participated in the Oslo Process and joined in the consensus adoption of the Convention on Cluster Munitions in Dublin in May 2008, but was unable to sign the convention at the Oslo Signing Conference in December 2008 due to difficulties in securing authorization.[2] It signed the convention at the UN in New York in December 2009.
Cameroon has continued to engage in the work of the Convention on Cluster Munitions. It has participated in every Meeting of States Parties of the convention, including the Fifth Meeting of States Parties in San José, Costa Rica in September 2014. Cameroon has attended all of the convention’s intersessional meetings in Geneva except in 2012 and June 2015. Cameroon has participated in regional workshops on the convention, such as in Lomé, Togo in May 2013.
At the UN General Assembly (UNGA) First Committee on Disarmament and International Security in October 2013, Cameroon appealed for the universalization and efficient implementation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions.[3]
Cameroon has voted in favor of recent UNGA resolutions condemning the use of cluster munitions in Syria, including Resolution 69/189 on 18 December 2014, which expressed “outrage” at the continued use.[4]
Cameroon has elaborated its views on certain important issues regarding the interpretation and implementation of the convention. In 2011, the Ministry for External Relations stated, “Cameroon has never produced, used, or stockpiled let alone served as a platform for the transit or transfer of cluster munitions. It therefore approves a) the prohibition on the transfer of cluster munitions; b) the prohibition on the assistance in joint military operations; c) the prohibition on foreign stockpile of cluster munitions; d) the prohibition on investments in cluster munitions.”[5]
Cameroon is a State Party to the Mine Ban Treaty. It is also party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons.
Use, production, transfer, and stockpiling
Cameroon has stated on several occasions that it has not used, produced, stockpiled, or transferred cluster munitions.[6]
[1] Cameroon’s ratification legislation, Law 2011/003, was adopted on 6 March 2011 and signed into law by President Paul Biya on 6 May 2011.
[2] For details on Cameroon’s cluster munition policy and practice through early 2010, see ICBL, Cluster Munition Monitor 2010 (Ottawa: Mines Action Canada, October 2010), pp. 126–127.
[3] Statement by M. Ahidjo, UNGA First Committee on Disarmament and International Security, New York, 14 October 2013.
[4] “Situation of human rights in the Syrian Arab Republic,” UNGA Resolution A/RES/69/189, 18 December 2014. Cameroon voted in favor of similar resolutions on 15 May and 18 December 2013.
[5] Original text in French: “Le Cameroun, n’est producteur, ni utilisation, ni stockeur encore moins une plate-forme de transit et de transfert des armes à sous-munitions. Il approuve par conséquent a) l’interdiction de transfert des sous-munitions; b) l’interdiction d’assistance en opérations militaires conjointes; c) l’interdiction de stocker des armes à sous-munitions étrangères; d) l’interdiction d’investir dans les armes à sous-munitions.” “Cameroon and the Convention on Cluster Munitions,” statement provided to Handicap International in email from Dr. Yves Alexandre Chouala, Ministry of External Relations, 12 May 2011.
[6] Statement of Cameroon, Convention on Cluster Munitions Second Meeting of States Parties, Beirut, 15 September 2011; statement of Cameroon, Dublin Diplomatic Conference on Cluster Munitions, Closing Plenary, 30 May 2008. Notes by Landmine Action; and statement of Cameroon, First Meeting of States Parties, Convention on Cluster Munitions, Vientiane, 10 November 2010. Notes by the CMC.