Ten-Year Review: State Party Cuba acceded to the convention in April 2016. It has participated in meetings of the convention, most recently in September 2019, and voted in favor of a key United Nations (UN) resolution promoting the convention in December 2019.

Cuba submitted its initial transparency report for the convention in March 2018, which states that it never produced cluster munitions, but imported them and destroyed a stockpile of 1,856 cluster munitions in 2017. Cuba has not retained any cluster munitions for research or training purposes.

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 other laws under relevant national implementation measures for the convention.[1] Since 2016, Cuba has often said that it is applying the convention’s provisions.[2]

Cuba submitted an initial Article 7 transparency report for the convention on 30 March 2017 and it has provided annual updates since then, most recently in April 2020.[3]

Cuba 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.

Before its accession, Cuba participated as an observer in several meetings of the convention and often acknowledged the humanitarian rational of banning cluster munitions.[4] Cuba gave no indication that it was considering joining the convention until the First Review Conference in September 2015, where it announced its intent to accede.[5]

Cuba has participated in every meeting of the convention since 2016, most recently the Ninth Meeting of States Parties in Geneva in September 2019, where it condemned new use of cluster munitions.[6]

Months before it acceded, Cuba voted in favor of a UN General Assembly (UNGA) resolution in December 2015, which urged states outside the Convention on Cluster Munitions to “join as soon as possible.”[7] Cuba has vote in favor of the annual UNGA resolution promoting the convention since then, most recently in December 2019.[8]

Before joining, Cuba raised concern over certain provisions of the convention, including definitions and Article 21 on relations with states not party to the convention.[9] Since joining, it has not commented on certain important issues relating to the convention’s interpretation and implementation such as the prohibitions on transit, foreign stockpiling, and investment in production.

Cuba is not party to the Mine Ban Treaty. It is party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons.

Use, production, and transfer

Cuba reports that it has never produced cluster munitions, but it acquired and stockpiled them.[10] Cuba is not known to have used or exported cluster munitions.

Stockpiling and destruction

Cuba declared a stockpile of 1,856 cluster munitions in March 2017, but it did not specify the quantity of submunitions they contained. The cluster munitions were manufactured in the Soviet Union and included air-dropped bombs as well as cartridges for KMGU submunition dispensers.[11]

Cluster munitions once stockpiled by Cuba[12]

Under Article 3 of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, Cuba was required to destroy all stockpiled cluster munitions under its jurisdiction and control as soon as possible, but not later than 1 October 2026.

In April 2018, Cuba reported that the cluster munition stocks were destroyed by open detonation during 2017 and said it no longer possesses any stockpiled cluster munitions.[13]

Cuba is not retaining any cluster munitions for research or training purposes.[14]

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.

By comparison, Cuba acceded to the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 6 April 2016.[2] It previously objected to the way in which the Convention on Cluster Munitions, like the Mine Ban Treaty, was concluded outside of UN auspices. Cuba also 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.

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.[3] 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.[4] 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.”[5]

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. It was invited to, but did not participate in the Mine Ban Treaty’s Seventeenth Meeting of States Parties in Geneva in November 2018.

Cuba participated in every meeting of the treaty’s intersessional Standing Committee until 2003, but has attended few intersessional meetings since then.

On 5 December 2018, Cuba abstained from voting on UN General Assembly (UNGA) Resolution 73/61 calling for universalization and full implementation of the Mine Ban Treaty, as it has done in previous years.[6]

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.[7]

Use, production, transfer, and stockpiling

Cuba has declined to provide information about its 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]

In the absence of any denial or clarification from the government, Cuba’s state-owned Union of Military Industries (Unión de las Industrias Militares) is believed 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]

20-Year Summary

The Republic of Cuba’s authorities maintain minefields around the United States (US) naval base at Guantánamo in the southeast of the country. There is no mine action program in Cuba and it has not conducted clearance of minefields in the last 10 years.

Contamination and Impact

Cuba’s mine contamination remains unchanged from previous years. 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 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. In February 2018, a fire broke out in the 17-mile strip of land separating the Guantánamo base from Cuban territory, which reportedly detonated 1,000 landmines and burned 1,700 acres over three days before being extinguished.[4]

The last reported casualties in the Republic of Cuba 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.

The Republic of Cuba has a free and universal healthcare system.[1] The Cuban Association of Physically Disabled Persons (Asociación Cubana de Limitados Físico-Motores, ACLIFIM) has provided a support network for persons with physical disabilities. As of December 2015, it represented over 74,000 members.[2]

Cuba was not known to have domestic law that expressly prohibited discrimination against persons with disabilities. Persons with disabilities are entitled to 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.[3]

Handicap International has a socio-economic inclusion program for persons with disabilities in the province of Granma. As of October 2016, there had been almost 2,400 beneficiaries from the program, which seeks to develop sustainable local employment opportunities for persons with disabilities.[4]

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