Summary: State Party Cuba acceded to the convention on 6 April 2016 after pledging to do so in an address to the convention’s First Review Conference in September 2015. It also voted in favor of a UN resolution on the convention in December 2015. Cuba is not known to have used, produced, or exported cluster munitions, but it has a stockpile.

Policy

The Republic of Cuba acceded to the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 6 April 2016. The convention will enter into force for Cuba on 1 October 2016. It is not clear if Cuba intends to adopt national implementing legislation to enforce the convention’s provisions.

Cuba’s initial Article 7 transparency report for the convention is due by 30 March 2017.

Cuba announced its intent to accede at the convention’s First Review Conference of the Convention on Cluster Munitions in September 2015 in Dubrovnik, Croatia.[1] During the high-level segment, Cuba’s representative Ambassador Rodolfo Benitez Verson informed States Parties that Cuba was preparing to accede to the Convention on Cluster Munitions in the near future.

The following month at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), Cuba expressed its “strong support” for the convention and described recent use of the weapons as “incompatible with the principles and norms of international humanitarian law.”[2] Cuba voted in favor of a UNGA resolution on the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 7 December 2015, which urges states outside the convention to “join as soon as possible.”[3]

Cuba’s representative to the UN in New York, Ambassador Rodolfo Reyes, deposited the instrument of accession with the UN on 6 April 2016.[4] Cluster Munition Coalition (CMC) Director Megan Burke accepted an invitation to witness the deposit.

Cuba did not participate in the Oslo Process that created the Convention on Cluster Munitions, but it has attended some of the convention’s meetings as an observer.

Before the 2015 Review Conference, Cuba expressed support for the humanitarian rational of banning cluster munitions, but never expressed support for the convention or given any indications that it was considering accession. Cuba in the past expressed concern at the way in which the Convention on Cluster Munitions was concluded outside of UN auspices as well as with certain provisions, such as the definition of cluster munitions and “interoperability” provisions contained in Article 21 on relations with states not party to the convention.[5]

Cuba attended the convention’s Meetings of States Parties in 2010, 2011, and 2014, as well as the First Review Conference and an intersessional meeting in 2015.

Cuba is not party to the Mine Ban Treaty.

Cuba is party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) and participated in a CCW effort to conclude a new protocol on cluster munitions that failed in 2011.

Use, production, and transfer

Cuba is not known to have used, produced, or exported cluster munitions.

Stockpiling and destruction

Cuba has never confirmed or denied stockpiling cluster munitions.[6] Since it began reporting in 2009, the CMC has listed Cuba as a stockpiling cluster munitions of Russian origin. Jane’s Information Group lists Cuba as possessing KMG-U dispensers that deploy submunitions and RBK-250-275 and RBK-500-series cluster bombs.[7] Also, according to standard international reference publications, Cuba also possesses BM-21 Grad 122mm surface-to-surface rocket launchers, but it is not known if the ammunition for these weapons includes versions with submunition payloads.[8]

Under Article 3 of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, Cuba is required to destroy all stockpiled cluster munitions under its jurisdiction and control as soon as possible, but not later than 1 October 2024.

Policy

The Republic of Cuba has not acceded to the Mine Ban Treaty.

In November 2014, Cuba stated that it fully shares the genuine humanitarian concerns relating to the indiscriminate use of antipersonnel landmines.[1] However, its policy on accession to the Mine Ban Treaty has not evolved in recent years.

In 2009, Cuba told States Parties that antipersonnel mines were an important part of its defense strategy and that its mines emplaced around Guantanamo Bay were only for territorial defense and security.[2] In 2009, Cuba expressed support for the humanitarian aspects of the Mine Ban Treaty, but said it would only be able to consider a change in policy if the United States (US) were to sign a peace agreement or non-aggression agreement with Cuba.[3] In 2010, Cuba stated that it could not renounce the use of mines for the preservation of sovereignty and territorial integrity, due to “continuous hostility and aggression by the military superpower.”[4]

Cuba participated as an observer in the treaty’s First Review Conference in 2004 and Second Review Conference in 2009, but was absent from the Third Review Conference held in Maputo, Mozambique in June 2014. It attended the first four annual Meetings of States Parties of the treaty, but has not participated in any since the Seventh Meeting of States Parties in 2006. Cuba participated in all of the treaty’s intersessional Standing Committee meetings until 2003, but has engaged in few since then.

On 11 December 2014, Cuba abstained from voting on UN General Assembly (UNGA) Resolution 69/34 calling for universalization and full implementation of the Mine Ban Treaty, as it has done in previous years. It was one of only 17 countries to abstain.

Cuba is party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) including its Protocol II on landmines. Cuba has not ratified the CCW’s Amended Protocol II on landmines but states that it complies with its requirements.[5]

In September 2015, Cuba for the first time expressed its intent to accede to the 2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions.[6]

According to a media report, a “Cuba Libre Landmines” symposium held in December 2014 called on the Cuban government to accede to the Mine Ban Treaty and clear the landmines around the US base at Guantanamo in Caimanera municipality.[7]

Use, production, transfer, and stockpiling

Cuba has declined to provide information about mine use, production, transfer, and stockpiling.[8] Cuba has also said it carries out “a strict policy with regard to guaranteeing a responsible use of antipersonnel mines with an exclusively defensive character and for [Cuba’s] national security.”[9]

Cuba’s state-owned Union of Military Industries (Unión de las Industrias Militares) is believed, in the absence of any denial or clarification from the government, to continue to produce antipersonnel mines.[10] Since 1996, Cuba has stated on several occasions that it does not and has never exported antipersonnel mines.[11] There is no official information available on the size and composition of Cuba’s stockpile of antipersonnel mines.[12]

Contamination

The Republic of Cuba’s mine contamination remains unchanged from previous years. Cuban authorities maintain minefields around the United States (US) naval base at Guantánamo in the southeast of Cuba. In 2007, Cuba said it carries out “a strict policy with regard to guaranteeing a responsible use of antipersonnel mines with an exclusively defensive character and for [Cuba’s] national security.”[1] According to an earlier statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, existing minefields are duly “marked, fenced and guarded” in accordance with Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) Amended Protocol II Meeting of Experts.[2] According to a book published in 2008, mines laid around the naval base detonate “at least once a month,”[3] but it has not been possible to independently confirm this claim.

Program Management

There is no mine action program in Cuba.

Land Release

Cuba has not conducted clearance in its minefields around the US naval base at Guantánamo over the last 10 years.

The Monitor gratefully acknowledges the contributions of the Mine Action Review supported and published by Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA), which conducted mine action research in 2016 and shared it with the Monitor. The Monitor is responsible for the findings presented online and in its print publications.

Casualties

The Monitor did not identify any mine or explosive remnants of war (ERW) casualties in 2015 in the Republic of Cuba. The last reported casualties were in 2013, when a 48-year-old man sustained severe injuries when attempting to dismantle an item of ERW in his home and sell it for scrap in Puerto Padre. The explosion also injured two other adults and two children.[1] Between 1999 and the end of 2014, the Monitor identified a total of 11 mine casualties (two persons killed and nine injured) in Cuba.

Victim Assistance

Cuba has a free and universal healthcare system. The Cuban Association of Physically Disabled Persons (Asociación Cubana de Limitados Físico-Motores, ACLIFIM) has provided a support network for persons with physical disabilities.[2] As of December 2015, it represented over 74,000 members.[3]

Cuba did not have domestic law that expressly prohibited societal discrimination against persons with disabilities. The Ministry of Labor and Social Security passed a resolution that accorded persons with disabilities equal pay and equal access to work. Legislation requires that buildings and transportation services accommodate the accessibility needs of persons with disabilities, however access remained a challenge. The Ministry of Labor and Social Security managed an Employment Program for Persons with Disabilities.[4]

Cuba ratified the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities on 6 September 2007.