Bhutan
Cluster Munition Ban Policy
Ten-Year Review: Non-signatory Bhutan has expressed support for the convention’s objectives but has not taken any steps to join it. Bhutan has participated in several meetings of the convention since 2015 and it has voted in favor of the annual United Nations (UN) resolution promoting the convention.
According to Bhutan, it does not possess cluster munitions. It is not known to have used, produced, or transferred these weapons.
Policy
The Kingdom of Bhutan has not acceded to the Convention on Cluster Munitions.
Bhutan has never made a public statement detailing its position on joining the convention, but officials have expressed the government’s support for the convention’s objectives.[1] In September 2019, a government representative told the Cluster Munition Coalition (CMC) that resource constraints have prevented Bhutan from undertaking the process necessary to accede to the convention.[2]
Bhutan did not participate in the Oslo Process that created the Convention on Cluster Munitions.
Bhutan has participated as an observer in several meetings of the convention since 2015, most recently the Ninth Meeting of States Parties in Geneva in September 2019.[3] It also attended an Asia-Pacific workshop on the convention in Manila, Philippines on 18–19 June 2019.[4]
In December 2019, Bhutan voted in favor of a UN General Assembly (UNGA) resolution that urges states outside the convention to “join as soon as possible.”[5] It has voted in favor of the annual UNGA resolution promoting the convention since it was first introduced in 2015.
Bhutan is a State Party to the Mine Ban Treaty. It is not party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons.
Use, production, transfer, and stockpiling
Bhutan is not known to have used, produced, transferred, or stockpiled cluster munitions. In 2010, a government representative said that Bhutan is a peaceful country that does not possess cluster munitions and has no plans to acquire them.[6]
[1] In October 2010, Bhutan’s permanent representative to the UN in New York told the Cluster Munition Coalition (CMC) that the government views the convention as “a commendable achievement” and was “looking at it very closely with a view to taking positive action” on accession. Meeting with Amb. Lhatu Wangchuk, Permanent Mission of the Kingdom of Bhutan to the UN in New York, New York, 19 October 2010. Notes by the CMC. See also, interview with Kingye Singye, Minister-Counselor, Embassy of the Kingdom of Bhutan, New Delhi, 29 January 2010.
[2] CMC meeting with Sanjay Needup, Senior Desk Officer, Political and International Security Division, Multilateral Dept., Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bhutan, Geneva, 2 September 2019.
[3] Bhutan first attended a Meeting of States Parties in September 2016. Previously, Bhutan’s Geneva-based representative attended an intersessional meeting in Geneva in 2015 to learn more about the Convention on Cluster Munitions. Monitor interview with Tandin Dorji, Second Secretary, Permanent Mission of Bhutan to the UN in Geneva, Geneva, 22 June 2015. Bhutan also attended a special event on the Convention on Cluster Munitions at the UN in New York in October 2009. It did not participate in the convention’s First Review Conference in Dubrovnik, Croatia in September 2015 or intersessional meetings held in 2011–2015.
[4] “Asia-Pacific Workshop on CCM Universalization,” Convention on Cluster Munitions Quarterly Newsletter, April 2019.
[5] “Implementation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions,” UNGA Resolution 74/62, 12 December 2019.
[6] Meeting with Amb. Lhatu Wangchuk, Permanent Mission of the Kingdom of Bhutan to the UN in New York, New York, 19 October 2010. Notes by the CMC.