Guinea-Bissau
Cluster Munition Ban Policy
Ten-Year Review: State Party Guinea-Bissau ratified the convention on 29 November 2010. It has participated in meetings of the of the convention, but not since 2015. Guinea-Bissau voted in favor of a key United Nations (UN) resolution promoting implementation of the convention in December 2019.
Guinea-Bissau provided its initial Article 7 transparency report for the Convention on Cluster Munitions in November 2019, which confirmed it has never produced cluster munitions. Guinea-Bissau has reported that it possesses cluster munitions, but a review of storage facilities conducted by technical experts in January 2020 did not identify any stocks.
Policy
The Republic of Guinea-Bissau signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 3 December 2008 and ratified it on 29 November 2010. The convention entered into force for the country on 1 May 2011.
Guinea-Bissau reported in January 2020 that it is in the process of drafting implementing legislation for the Convention on Cluster Munitions.[1]
Guinea-Bissau submitted its initial Article 7 transparency report for the convention on 11 November 2019 and provided an updated report on 1 January 2020.[2]
Guinea-Bissau participated in some meetings of the Oslo Process that created the convention, including the formal negotiations in Dublin in May 2008, where it joined other African states in opposing efforts to weaken the convention text and participated in the consensus adoption of the text.[3]
Guinea-Bissau has participated in meetings of the convention, but not since 2014.[4] It was invited, but did not attend, the Ninth Meeting of States Parties in Geneva in September 2019.
Guinea-Bissau voted in favor of a key UN General Assembly (UNGA) resolution promoting implementation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions in December 2019.[5] It has voted in favor of the annual UNGA resolution promoting the convention since it was first introduced in 2015.
Guinea-Bissau has also voted in favor of other UNGA resolutions condemning the use of cluster munitions in Syria, most recently in December 2019.[6]
Guinea-Bissau has not elaborated its views on certain important issues relating to the 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, and the prohibition on investment in production of cluster munitions.
Guinea-Bissau is a State Party to the Mine Ban Treaty. It is also party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons.
Use, production, and transfer
Since 2008, Guinea-Bissau has said that it has not used or produced cluster munitions.[7] In its initial transparency report provided in November 2019, Guinea-Bissau confirmed that it has no cluster munition production facilities.
Guinea-Bissau is not known to have exported cluster munitions, but it may have imported them in the past.
Stockpile destruction
Guinea-Bissau has reported stockpiling cluster munitions, but it has not shared information on the types or quantities stockpiled.[8] It is unclear if Guinea-Bissau still knowingly possesses cluster munitions and whether it has the capability to use them.
A 2011 inventory review by the National Mine Action Coordination Center (Centro Nacional de Coordenação da Acção Anti-Minas, CAAMI) found that an air force base in Bissau City held stocks of cluster munitions.[9] Since then, Guinea-Bissau has requested financial and technical assistance to destroy the stockpile, most recently in the transparency report provided in January 2020.[10]
However, a subsequent assessment visit by ammunition management experts from the Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining (GICHD) in January 2020 reported that their inspection of storage facilities did not identify any cluster munitions.[11]
Under Article 3 of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, Guinea-Bissau was required to destroy any stockpiled cluster munitions as soon as possible, but not later than 1 May 2019. Guinea-Bissau has not requested an extension to its stockpile destruction deadline, and should clarify whether it still knowingly possesses cluster munitions.
Guinea-Bissau reported in January 2020 it has not retained any cluster munitions for research or training purposes.[12]
[1] Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 7 Report, Form A, 1 January 2020. Previously, an official said the country’s Penal Code provides sanctions for any violations of the Convention on Cluster Munitions. Statement of Guinea-Bissau, Lomé Regional Seminar on the Universalization of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, Lomé, Togo, 23 May 2013.
[2] The report was originally due by 28 October 2011 and covers an “initial” period from 1 May 2011 to 21 November 2019.
[3] For details on Guinea-Bissau’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. 86–87.
[4] Guinea-Bissau participated in the convention’s Meetings of States Parties in 2010–2014 and intersessional meetings in 2011–2015. It has attended regional meetings on cluster munitions, most recently in Lomé, Togo in May 2013.
[5] “Implementation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions,” UN General Assembly (UNGA) Resolution 74/62, 12 December 2019.
[6] “Situation of human rights in the Syrian Arab Republic,” UNGA Resolution 74/169, 18 December 2019.
[7] Statement by Amb. Augusto Artur António Silva, Secretary of State and International Cooperation, Convention on Cluster Munitions Signing Conference, Oslo, 4 December 2008.
[8] Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 7 Report, Form B, 1 January 2020. Statement of Guinea-Bissau, Convention on Cluster Munitions Fifth Meeting of States Parties, San Jose, 3 September 2014. Guinea-Bissau told States Parties it had asked for help to destroy its stockpile in 2013 from the UN Mine Action Service (UNMAS), which had conducted a technical assessment in 2011 that found the cluster munition stocks were held by the armed forces “in very bad conditions.” See, statement of Guinea-Bissau, Convention on Cluster Munitions Fourth Meeting of States Parties, Lusaka, 11 September 2013.
[9] Interview with César Luis Gomes Lopes de Carvalho, General Director, CAAMI, in Geneva, 27 June 2011. RBK-series air-dropped bombs and PTAB-2.5 submunitions were among munitions ejected by an explosion at an ammunition storage facility on the outskirts of Bissau City in 2000. Cleared Ground Demining, “Guinea Bissau Project Update,” undated but 2006.
[10] Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 7 Report, Form B, 1 January 2020. Statement of Guinea-Bissau, Convention on Cluster Munitions Fifth Meeting of States Parties, San Jose, 3 September 2014. Guinea-Bissau told States Parties it had asked for help to destroy its stockpile in 2013 from the UN Mine Action Service (UNMAS), which had conducted a technical assessment in 2011 that found the cluster munition stocks were held by the armed forces “in very bad conditions.” See, statement of Guinea-Bissau, Convention on Cluster Munitions Fourth Meeting of States Parties, Lusaka, 11 September 2013.
[11] GICHD Report, Project Number 91023, “To assist the Guinea-Bissau authorities in the identification of suspected cluster munitions,” 11–17 January 2020. According to the report, the GICHD Ammunition Management Advisory Team (AMAT) technical experts were provided “access to all ammunition stores in Guinea Bissau … [to be] shown … the bombs suspected of being cluster munitions.” The team visited storage facilities in the capital Bissau and in Gabú and Nhala. They reviewed weapons held by the armed forces, Ministry of the Interior and national police. The AMAT experts identified old Soviet-made OFAB and FAB bombs and incendiary weapons (eighteen RBK ZAB-series bombs) but no cluster munitions. According to the report, “Disappointment was expressed at not being shown either the suspected cluster munitions or any stores of current operational and training ammunition.”
[12] Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 7 Report, Form C, 1 January 2020.