Summary: State Party Cuba acceded to the convention on 6 April 2016 after participating in the convention’s First Review Conference and voting in favor of a key UN resolution on the convention in December 2015.

Cuba provided its transparency report for the convention in March 2017, confirming that it has never produced cluster munitions, but did import them. It possesses a stockpile of 1,856 cluster munitions and an unspecified quantity of submunitions.

Policy

The Republic of Cuba acceded to the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 6 April 2016 and the convention entered into force for the country on 1 October 2016.

Cuba has reported certain provisions of its Penal Code and three relevant laws under its national implementation measures for the convention.[1] In October 2016, it informed the UN General Assembly (UNGA) First Committee on Disarmament and International Security that it is applying the convention’s provisions.[2]

Cuba provided its initial Article 7 transparency report for the convention on 30 March 2017.[3] It did not participate in the Oslo Process that created the Convention on Cluster Munitions, but it attended some of the convention’s meetings as an observer.

While Cuba regularly expressed support for the humanitarian rational of banning cluster munitions, it never expressed explicit support for the convention or gave any indication that it was considering accession until the convention’s First Review Conference in Dubrovnik, Croatia, in September 2015. During the high-level segment, Cuba’s representative Ambassador Rodolfo Benitez Verson announced that Cuba was preparing to accede to the Convention on Cluster Munitions in the near future.[4] Cuba subsequently deposited its instrument of accession with the UN on 6 April 2016 in a handover witnessed by the director of the Cluster Munition Coalition (CMC).[5]

Before acceding, Cuba voted in favor of the first UNGA resolution on the Convention on Cluster Munitions in December 2015, which called on states outside the convention to “join as soon as possible.”[6] In December 2016, Cuba voted in favor of a subsequent UNGA resolution promoting implementation of the convention.[7]

Cuba participated as a State Party in the convention’s Sixth Meeting of States Parties in Geneva in September 2016. Previously, it participated as an observer in the convention’s Meetings of States Parties in 2010, 2011, 2014, as well as the First Review Conference and an intersessional meeting in 2015. Cuba gave a presentation to a South East Europe regional seminar on landmines and cluster munitions in Rakitje, Croatia, on 12–13 June 2017.[8]

In the past, Cuba strongly objected to the way in which the Convention on Cluster Munitions was concluded outside of UN auspices and expressed concern 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.[9]

Cuba is not party to the Mine Ban Treaty. Cuba is party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW).

Use, production, and transfer

In March 2017, Cuba reported that it has no cluster munition production facilities.[10] It is not known to have used or exported cluster munitions.

Stockpiling and destruction

In its initial Article 7 report submitted in March 2017, Cuba declared a stockpile of 1,856 cluster munitions and an unspecified quantity of submunitions, as listed in the following table.

Cluster munitions stockpiled by Cuba (as of 31 December 2016)[11]

The stockpile includes air-dropped bombs and cartridges for KMGU submunition dispensers. Cuba did not, but should, declare the KMGU dispensers.

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 2026.

Cuba has committed to destroy the stocks by the deadline in accordance with relevant environmental and safety measures and applicable national and international standards and procedures.

Cuba has reported that it is not retaining any cluster munitions for research or training purposes.[12]