Albania

Cluster Munition Ban Policy

Last updated: 15 July 2015

Five-Year Review: State Party Albania was among the first 30 ratifications that triggered entry into force of the convention on 1 August 2010. It views existing legislation as sufficient to ensure its implementation of the convention. Albania has participated in all of the convention’s international meetings, serves as the convention’s co-coordinator on stockpile destruction and retention, and has condemned the use of cluster munitions in Syria and elsewhere.

In its initial transparency report for the convention provided in 2011, Albania confirmed that it has never used, produced, or stockpiled cluster munitions.

Policy

The Republic of Albania signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 3 December 2008 and ratified on 16 June 2009. It was among the first 30 ratifications that triggered entry into force of the convention on 1 August 2010.

After conducting a legislative review, Albania reported in 2013 that it considers existing legislation sufficient to implement the convention’s provisions.[1]

Albania submitted its initial Article 7 report for the convention in January 2011 and has provided annual updated reports ever since, most recently in May 2015.[2]

Albania actively participated in the Oslo Process that led to the creation of the convention and made many strong contributions from the perspective of a state affected by cluster munitions.[3]

Albania engages 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. It has attended all of the convention’s intersessional meetings held in Geneva since 2011, most recently in June 2015.

Albania has also participated in regional workshops on the convention. It attended a mine action symposium in Biograd, Croatia on 27–29 April 2015 that included discussion on cluster munitions.

Albania has served as the convention’s co-coordinator on stockpile destruction and retention since September 2013, together with Spain until 2014, and now France.

In September 2014, Albania condemned the use of cluster munitions “in any conflicts.”[4] It did not make a statement to condemn the use of cluster munitions at the intersessional meetings in June 2015.

Albania has condemned the use of cluster munitions in Syria on a number of occasions since 2013.[5] It voted in favor of two Human Rights Council resolutions in 2015 that condemned the use of cluster munitions in Syria, most recently on 2 July 2015.[6] It has also voted in favor of recent UN General Assembly (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.[7]

Albania has yet to elaborate its views on certain important issues related to interpretation and implementation of the convention, such as the prohibition on transit, the prohibition on assistance during joint military operations with states not party that may use cluster munitions, the prohibition on foreign stockpiling of cluster munitions, the prohibition on investment in production of cluster munitions, and the need for retention of cluster munitions and submunitions for training and development purposes.

Albania is a State Party to the Mine Ban Treaty. It is also party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons.

Production, transfer, use, and stockpiling

Albania has reported that it has not produced or stockpiled cluster munitions.[8] In December 2008, Albania stated that it has never used or transferred cluster munitions.[9]

Cluster munitions were used in Albania in 1999 by forces of the former Socialist Republic of Yugoslavia and by states participating in the NATO operation.[10] In December 2009, Albania announced it had completed the clearance of all known cluster munition remnants on its territory.[11]



[2] The initial report is for the period from 1 August 2010 to 31 December 2010, while subsequent updated annual reports cover the previous calendar year. Albania’s 2015 Article 7 report is dated 15 March 2015 but was listed on the UN website as received on 7 May 2015.

[3] For details on Albania’s cluster munition policy and practice up to early 2009, see Human Rights Watch and Landmine Action, Banning Cluster Munitions: Government Policy and Practice (Ottawa: Mines Action Canada, May 2009), pp. 28–29.

[4] Statement of Albania, Convention on Cluster Munitions Fifth Meeting of States Parties, San José, 2 September 2014.

[5] Statement of Albania, Convention on Cluster Munitions Fourth Meeting of States Parties, Lusaka, 10 September 2013.

[6] See, “The grave and deteriorating human rights and humanitarian situation in the Syrian Arab Republic,” Human Rights Council Resolution A/HRC/29/L.4, 2 July 2015; “The continuing grave deterioration in the human rights and humanitarian situation in the Syrian Arab Republic,” UN Human Rights Council Resolution A/HRC/RES/28/20, 27 March 2015; “The continuing grave deterioration in the human rights and humanitarian situation in the Syrian Arab Republic,” UN Human Rights Council Resolution A/HRC/RES/26/23, 27 June 2014; “The continuing grave deterioration of the human rights and humanitarian situation in the Syrian Arab Republic,” UN Human Rights Council Resolution A/HRC/RES/25/23, 28 March 2014.

[7] “Situation of human rights in the Syrian Arab Republic,” UNGA Resolution A/RES/69/189, 18 December 2014. Albania voted in favor of similar resolutions on 15 May and 18 December 2013.

[8] Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 7 Report, Forms B and E, 27 January 2011.

[9] Statement by Lulzim Basha, Convention on Cluster Munitions Signing Conference, Oslo, 3 December 2008.

[10] Ibid.; and Rosy Cave, Anthea Lawson, and Andrew Sheriff, Cluster Munitions in Albania and Lao PDR: The Humanitarian and Socio-Economic Impact (Geneva: UN Institute for Disarmament Research, 2006), p. 7.

[11] Statement by Arian Starova, Mine Ban Treaty Second Review Conference, Cartagena, 3 December 2009; and Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 7 Report, Form F, 27 January 2011.