Chile

Cluster Munition Ban Policy

Last updated: 21 July 2016

Summary: State Party Chile ratified the convention on 16 December 2010. It hosted an international conference on the convention in Santiago in June 2010, and regional meetings on cluster munitions in 2009 and 2013. Chile has participated in all of the convention’s meetings and has served as the convention’s co-coordinator on victim assistance since September 2015. Chile was a lead sponsor on a UN resolution on the convention in December 2015. It has condemned new use of cluster munitions, including in South Sudan, Syria, and Ukraine.

Chile is a former producer and exporter of cluster munitions. In July 2013, Chile completed the destruction of a stockpile of 249 cluster munitions and 25,896 submunitions.

Policy

The Republic of Chile signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 3 December 2008, ratified on 16 December 2010, and the convention entered into force for the country on 1 June 2011.

Chile has reported existing legislation including its 2010 ratification law under national implementation measures for the convention. It is unclear if Chile considers these laws as sufficient to enforce implementation of the convention’s provisions or if it intends to undertake specific legislative measures. In 2012, Chile reported that the Ministry of National Defense was establishing a body “to centralize, coordinate and execute the operational and administrative tasks” required by the convention.[1]

Chile submitted its initial Article 7 transparency report for the Convention on Cluster Munitions in September 2012 and provided an annual updated report in September 2013.[2] As of 10 July 2016, Chile had not provided any more of the annual updates due by 30 April.

Chile participated in the Oslo Process that produced the Convention on Cluster Munitions, advocating for the most comprehensive provisions possible.[3]

Chile has engaged actively in the work of the convention since 2008, hosting an international conference on the convention in Santiago in June 2010 and regional conferences in September 2009 and December 2013.

Chile participated in the First Review Conference of the Convention on Cluster Munitions in Dubrovnik, Croatia in September 2015. In an address to the high-level segment of the meeting, Chile found that “there are not military, political, and above all, ethical reasons for any actor to use cluster munitions under any circumstance.”[4]

Chile has participated in all of the convention’s Meetings of States Parties as well as intersessional meetings in Geneva in 2011–2015. It hosted a regional workshop on cluster munitions in Santiago in December 2013 that 24 Latin American and Caribbean states attended, including non-signatories Argentina, Cuba, Saint Lucia, and the United States (US).[5]

Chile served as the convention’s co-coordinator on cooperation and assistance in 2013–2015. At the First Review Conference, Chile was named the convention’s co-coordinator on victim assistance together with Australia.

Chile was a lead sponsor on and voted in favor of a UN General Assembly (UNGA) resolution on the convention on 7 December 2015, which urges all states not party to the convention to join “as soon as possible.”[6] A total of 140 states voted in favor of the non-binding resolution, including many non-signatories.

Chile has condemned new use of cluster munitions on several occasions, including in Ukraine, South Sudan, and Syria. As a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council, Chile has expressed concern at the use of cluster munitions in Ukraine.[7] In June 2015, Chile voted in favor of a Security Council resolution expressing concern at evidence of cluster munition use by the government of Sudan and reiterating a call for an investigation.[8] Chile voted in favor of a May 2014 resolution, which expressed concern at the use of cluster munitions in South Sudan and called on “all parties to refrain from similar such use in the future.”[9] Chile has voted in favor of UNGA resolutions condemning the use of cluster munitions in Syria, most recently in December 2015.[10]

Interpretive issues

During the Oslo Process, Chile did not favor including language on “interoperability” (joint military operations with states not party that may use cluster munitions) in the convention.[11] In 2012, a Ministry of National Defense official informed the Monitor that the convention’s Article 21 language does not prevent Chile from conducting military training exercises with states not party, but emphasized that Chile would require that states participating in exercises not use cluster munitions in the exercises (and would communicate this requirement via a written order sent to officials involved).[12]

Chile has yet to elaborate its views on other important issues relating to the interpretation and implementation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, such as the prohibition on transit, the prohibition on foreign stockpiling of cluster munitions, and the prohibition on investment in production of cluster munitions.

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

Use

Chile is not known to have used cluster munitions in a conflict situation. In 2011, the Ministry of National Defense informed the Monitor that Chile stopped using cluster munitions in training exercises in 2008.[13]

Production and transfer

During the Oslo Process in September 2007, Chile stated that it no longer produced cluster munitions and did not intend to produce the weapon in the future.[14] In the past, Industrias Cardeon SA and Los Conquistadores 1700 were reported to have produced at least eight types of air-dropped cluster bombs: CB-130 bomb, CB-250K bomb, CB-500 bomb, CB-500K bomb, CB-500K2 bomb, CB-770 bomb, WB-250F bomb, and WB-500F bomb.[15]

In the initial Article 7 report provided in 2012, Chile indicated that it was in the process of verifying information on measures taken to dismantle its cluster munition production facilities and stated that it could not provide a complete accounting of the “models manufactured, their total amount or destination of transfer.”[16] The updated report submitted in September 2013 provided no additional information on past production or transfer of cluster munitions.

However, in 2012 Chile’s Ministry of National Defense provided the Monitor with a detailed accounting of Chile’s past transfers of cluster munitions. One document shown to the Monitor details Chilean exports of cluster munitions in the period from 1991 to 2001 to the following five countries:[17]

  • Brazil in 1999 and 2001 (various types);
  • Colombia in 1994 (55 250kg cluster bombs, four air-dropped 250kg cluster bombs, and one fin stabilizer for a CB-250kg cluster bomb) and in 1997 (132 250kg cluster bombs);
  • Turkey in 1996 (four CB-250kg cluster bombs);
  • United Arab Emirates in 1998 (four “empty” [“vacías”] CB-500kg cluster bombs and two CB-500kg cluster bombs filled with lead shot); and
  • US in 1991 (one 250kg cluster bomb and one 500kg cluster bomb).

In a May 2012 document provided to the Monitor, the director-general of National Mobilization, Brigadier General Roberto Ziegele Kerber, stated that there were “no other applications or new exports authorizations for these devices” after the year 2001.[18] This data accounts for cluster munitions exported from Chile in the period after 1980, but it does not provide any information on exports in period from 1980–1991.[19]

Colombia reported the destruction of its stockpile of 41 Chilean CB-250K bombs in March 2009.[20]

PM-1 combined-effect submunitions delivered by bombs produced in Chile have been found in Eritrea, Ethiopia, Iraq, and Sudan.[21] A number of CB-250 bombs were found in the arsenal of Iraq by UN weapons inspectors, who noted that Iraq had modified them to deliver chemical weapons in the submunitions.[22]

Stockpile destruction

In its initial Article 7 report provided in 2012, Chile declared a stockpile of 249 LARS-160 surface-launched rockets equipped with Mk-II cluster munition warheads containing 25,896 submunitions.[23]

Under Article 3 of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, Chile was required to declare and destroy all stockpiled cluster munitions under its jurisdiction and control no later than 1 June 2019.

Chile completed destruction of the stockpile in July 2013 and announced the completion two months later at the convention’s Fourth Meeting of States Parties. It offered to share its experience and provide technical assistance to countries requesting support for their stockpile destruction efforts in “the spirit of cooperation that guides the convention.”[24]

Chile has provided detailed information on the destruction of its stockpile that the Army’s Fabrica y Maestranza del Ejercito (FAMAE) carried out in Arica Parinacota in the north of the country between 17 June and 12 July 2013.[25] The stocks were destroyed by demilitarization, including dismantling various components and destroying the submunitions by controlled detonation. The Minister of Defense issued a decree certifying that the inventories of the Chilean Army no longer hold cluster munitions.[26]

Chile destroyed other stocks of cluster munitions in previous years. According to a Chilean Air Force document dated 23 June 2009, “the air force originally had 48 cluster munitions in stockpile in 2003 of which 42 cluster munitions were consumed for training purposes at sites in the north of Chile in 2007, two more cluster munitions were consumed in 2008, and the remaining four cluster munitions were consumed in 2009.”[27]

Retention

In 2012 and 2013, Chile declared the retention of 12 CBK-250 cluster munitions and 240 inert PM-1 submunitions for research and training purposes.[28] The Monitor does not regard this as the retention of live cluster munitions because the submunitions are inert and no longer functional.



[1] Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 7 Report, Form A, September 2012. According to the updated report provided in September 2013, there has been no change in national implementation measures since the initial report.

[2] The initial report covers the period from June 2011 to June 2012, while the September 2013 update covers the period from August 2012 to August 2013, providing new information on stockpiling and retention.

[3] For details on Chile’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. 56–58.

[4] Statement of Chile, Convention on Cluster Munitions First Review Conference, Dubrovnik, 8 September 2015.

[5] States attending the workshop adopted the “Santiago Declaration,” which calls for “joint action to ensure the protection of civilians through the prohibition and total eradication of cluster munitions.” Santiago Declaration and Elements of an Action Plan, presentation by M. Christian Guillermet, Deputy Permanent Representative, Mission Costa Rica to UNOG, Santiago, 13 December 2013.

[6]Implementation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions,” UNGA Resolution 70/54, 7 December 2015.

[10]Situation of human rights in the Syrian Arab Republic,” UNGA Resolution 70/234, 23 December 2015. Chile voted in favor of a similar resolution on 15 May and 18 December 2013, and 18 December 2014.

[11] Katherine Harrison, “Report on the Wellington Conference on Cluster Munitions, 18–22 February 2008,” Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, March 2008, p. 12.

[12] Interview with Luis Doñas, Ministry of National Defense, Santiago, 20 April 2012.

[13] Interview with a representative of the Ministry of National Defense, 22 February 2011.

[14] Statement of Chile, Latin American Regional Conference on Cluster Munitions, San José, 4 September 2007. Notes by the CMC. Chile clarified that two companies used to produce cluster munitions, but no longer did so.

[15] Robert Hewson, ed., Jane’s Air-Launched Weapons, Issue 44 (Surrey, UK: Jane’s Information Group Limited, 2004), pp. 306–311.

[17] Monitor notes on a Chilean air force document signed by Chair of the Joint Chief of Staff of the Air Force, “Exports of Cluster Bombs authorized in the years 1991–2001,” dated 23 June 2009, taken during Monitor meeting with Juan Pablo Jara, Desk Officer, Ministry of National Defense, Santiago, 11 April 2012.

[18] Letter from Brig. Gen. Roberto Ziegele Kerber, Director-General of National Mobilization, Ministry of National Defense, 18 May 2012.

[19] Ibid.

[20] Email from the Colombian Campaign to Ban Landmines (Campaña Colombiana Contra Minas, CCCM), 17 March 2009.

[21] Rae McGrath, Cluster Bombs: The Military Effectiveness and Impact on Civilians of Cluster Munitions (London: Landmine Action, August 2000), p. 38. The “Iraq Ordnance Identification Guide” produced by the US military documents the presence of the PM-1 submunition in Iraq. Mine Action Information Center, James Madison University, “Iraq Ordnance Identification Guide,” 31 July 2006.

[22] UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission, “Sixteenth quarterly report on the activities of the United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission in accordance with paragraph 12 of Security Council resolution 1284 (1999) S/2004/160,” Annex 1, p. 10.

[23] Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 7 Report, Forms B and C, September 2012.

[24] Statement of Chile, Convention on Cluster Munitions Fourth Meeting of States Parties, Lusaka, 11 September 2013.

[26] Statement of Chile, UNGA First Committee on Disarmament and International Security, New York, 30 October 2013.

[27] Monitor notes on a Chilean Air Force document signed by Chair of the Joint Chief of Staff of the Air Force, “Exports of Cluster Bombs authorized in the years 1991–2001,” dated 23 June 2009, taken during Monitor meeting with Juan Pablo Jara, Ministry of National Defense, Santiago, 11 April 2012.

[28] The reports list the locations where the munitions are stored. Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 7 Reports, Form C, September 2012, and September 2013.