Dominican Republic
Cluster Munition Ban Policy
Five-Year Review: State Party the Dominican Republic ratified the convention in December 2011. It has participated in some meetings of the convention, but has not provided its initial transparency report for the convention. The Dominican Republic has not used, produced, or stockpiled cluster munitions.
Policy
The Dominican Republic signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 10 November 2009, ratified on 20 December 2011, and the convention entered into force for the country on 1 June 2012.
The Senate approved the ratification legislation on 21 March 2011.[1] It is not clear if the Dominican Republic will enact additional legislative measures to enforce its implementation of the convention.
As of 15 June 2015, the Dominican Republic still had not provided its initial Article 7 transparency report for the convention, which was originally due by 28 November 2012.
The Dominican Republic actively participated in the Oslo Process and supported a strong convention during the Dublin negotiations in May 2008.[2]
The Dominican Republic has participated in some meetings of the convention, including the Fifth Meeting of States Parties in San Jose, Costa Rica in September 2014. It attended a regional workshop on cluster munitions in Santiago, Chile in December 2013. The Dominican Republic has not participated in the convention’s intersessional meetings in Geneva.
The Dominican Republic has voted in favor of UN General Assembly (UNGA) resolutions condemning use of cluster munitions in Syria, including Resolution 69/189 on 18 December 2014, which expressed “outrage” at the continued use.[3]
The Dominican Republic is a State Party to the Mine Ban Treaty. It is also party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons.
Use, transfer, production, and stockpiling
In 2008, the Dominican Republic stated that it “does not use, stockpile, produce, or have anything to do with cluster munitions.”[4]
[1] The ratification bill was number 00249-2011-PLO-SE. Senate of the Dominican Republic Secretary-General, Order of the Day, No. 00032, 2 March 2011, AGENDA00032-PLO-02-03-2011-SE. See also CMC, Cluster Munition Monitor 2011 (Ottawa: Mines Action Canada, October 2011), p. 207.
[2] For details on the Dominican Republic’s cluster munition policy and practice up to early 2010, see ICBL, Cluster Munition Monitor 2010 (Ottawa: Mines Action Canada, October 2010), p. 144.
[3] “Situation of human rights in the Syrian Arab Republic,” UNGA Resolution 69/189, 18 December 2014. The Dominican Republic voted in favor of a similar resolution on 15 May and 18 December 2013.
[4] Statement of the Dominican Republic, Wellington Conference on Cluster Munitions, 22 February 2008. Notes by the CMC.