Gambia
Cluster Munition Ban Policy
Five-Year Review: Signatory the Gambia has expressed its intent to ratify the convention and conducted consultations as part of the ratification process. The Gambia has participated in several meetings of the convention. The Gambia states that it has never used, produced, or stockpiled cluster munitions.
Policy
The Republic of the Gambia signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 3 December 2008.
At a “stakeholders workshop” on the convention held in Banjul on 14 August 2014, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Defence, Yusupha Dibba, expressed his support for the convention as “a regulatory measure prohibiting use, productions and transfer and stockpiling of cluster munitions” and said the Gambia will “be working towards its ratification in due course.”[1] At the event, CMC member the West African Network for Peace Building (WANEP) called on the government to stand in solidarity with countries where cluster munitions have been used and ratify the convention without delay.
The Gambia has provided several updates on its ratification of the convention since 2010.[2] In May 2013, it stated the ratification package was awaiting cabinet approval and would then be submitted to the National Assembly for consideration and adoption.[3]
The Gambia participated in two meetings of the Oslo Process and, while it did not attend the formal negotiations in Dublin in May 2008, it signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions in Oslo in December 2008.[4]
The Gambia participated in the first three Meetings of States Parties of the convention, most recently in 2012. It has not engaged in the convention’s intersessional meetings held in Geneva since 2011. The Gambia has participated in regional workshops on the convention, such as the one held in Lomé, Togo in May 2013, where it endorsed a commitment to take actions to ratify the convention at the earliest opportunity.[5]
The Gambia has voted in favor of UN General Assembly (UNGA) resolutions condemning the use of cluster munitions in Syria, most recently Resolution 69/189 on 18 December 2014, which expressed “outrage” at the continued use.[6]
The Gambia is a State Party to the Mine Ban Treaty. It is not party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons.
Use, production, transfer, and stockpiling
The Gambia has stated on several occasions that it has never used, produced, or stockpiled cluster munitions.[7]
[1] Participants included parliamentarians, officials from various government ministries (Defence, Interior, Foreign Affairs), security personnel, civil society, and media. Rohey Jadama, “Gambia: Stakeholders Workshop On the Convention On Cluster Munition Concluded,” AllAfrica Global Media, 23 August 2014.
[2] Statement of the Gambia, Accra Regional Conference on the Universalization of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, Accra, 28 May 2012; statement of the Gambia, Convention on Cluster Munitions Second Meeting of States Parties, Beirut, 14 September 2011. Notes by the CMC; and statement of the Gambia, Convention on Cluster Munitions First Meeting of States Parties, Vientiane, 10 November 2010. Notes by the CMC.
[3] Statement of the Gambia, Lomé Regional Seminar on the Universalization of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, Lomé, Togo, 23 May 2013.
[4] For details on the Gambia’s policy and practice regarding cluster munitions through early 2009, see Human Rights Watch and Landmine Action, Banning Cluster Munitions: Government Policy and Practice (Ottawa: Mines Action Canada, May 2009), pp. 77–78.
[5] “Lomé Strategy on the Universalization of the Convention on Cluster Munitions,” Lomé Regional Seminar on the Universalization of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, Lomé, Togo, 23 May 2013.
[6] “Situation of human rights in the Syrian Arab Republic,” UNGA Resolution A/RES/69/189, 18 December 2014. The Gambia voted in favor of a similar resolution on 15 May and 18 December 2013.
[7] Statement by Ousman Sonko, Secretary of State for the Interior, Convention on Cluster Munitions Signing Conference, in Oslo, 4 December 2008; statement by Ousman Sonko, Minister of the Interior and NGO Affairs, Berlin Conference on the Destruction of Cluster Munitions, in Berlin, 26 June 2009; statement of the Gambia, Convention on Cluster Munitions First Meeting of States Parties, Vientiane, 10 November 2010. Notes by the CMC; statement of the Gambia, Convention on Cluster Munitions Second Meeting of States Parties, Beirut, 14 September 2011. Notes by the CMC; and statement of the Gambia, Accra Regional Conference on the Universalization of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, Accra, 28 May 2012.