Commitment to the Convention on Cluster Munitions

Policy

The Republic of Lebanon signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 3 December 2008 and ratified on 5 November 2010, becoming the first State Party to the convention from the Middle East. The convention entered into force for Lebanon on 1 May 2011.[1]

Lebanon’s Cabinet approved ratification of the convention on 21 April 2010.[2] The Parliament unanimously approved ratification legislation on 17 August 2010, which was then published in the Official Gazette. On 5 November 2010, Lebanon’s Permanent Mission to the UN in New York, Ambassador Nawaf Salam, deposited the instrument of ratification with the UN.

National measures to enforce the convention, such as legislation, have not been undertaken yet. In August 2010, Lebanon told the Monitor that the government “has not decided yet on the mandate and the shape of the body” that will oversee implementation of the convention and noted that pending a decision on this matter, “the Lebanese Mine Action Center…is coping with the cluster munition contamination alongside other related activities.” [3]

Lebanon’s initial Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 7 report is due by 28 October 2011.

Lebanon participated throughout the Oslo Process that created the convention and advocated strongly for humanitarian protection to be given primacy in the development of the convention’s provisions.[4] Israel’s large-scale use of cluster munitions in Lebanon during the 2006 conflict contributed greatly to the sense of humanitarian urgency that underpinned the Oslo Process.[5]

Lebanon has continued to play an active leadership role in the work of the convention. It attended the First Meeting of States Parties to the Convention on Cluster Munitions in Vientiane, Lao PDR in November 2010, where it made several statements including on clearance of cluster munition remnants. During the meeting, widespread support was expressed for Lebanon hosting the convention’s Second Meeting of States Parties in Beirut in September 2011.[6]

Lebanon also participated in the convention’s first intersessional meetings of the convention in Geneva in June 2011, where it made several interventions and presentations, including on the preparations for the Second Meeting of States Parties. Lebanon’s newly appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants, Dr. Adnan Mansour, addressed the intersessional meeting in his capacity as President-designate of the Second Meeting of States Parties and also hosted a side event on Lebanon and cluster munitions.[7] Mansour said, “I feel pleased and honored to join the national and international efforts aiming at freeing the world from all the threats and dangers posed by the usage of cluster munitions.”[8]

Between December 2010 and July 2011, three advance planning missions to Lebanon were undertaken by a small group of representatives of States Parties, UN agencies, and the CMC to further preparations for the Second Meeting of States Parties.[9] Lebanon has taken the lead in drafting a Beirut Declaration to be issued at the meeting and has worked closely with Norway to prepare a Beirut Progress Report. It has worked with Canada on the convention’s future implementation structures and intersessional work program.

In June 2011, Lebanon detailed the efforts that it has undertaken to promote the universalization of the convention.[10] In April 2011, Lebanon’s Minister of Foreign Affairs raised the convention during meetings with the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, and Bahrain. Lebanon has issued a demarche to the Secretary General of the Arab League to encourage all Arab countries to attend the Second Meeting of States Parties and join the convention. At the 16^th Ministerial meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement meeting in Bali, Indonesia in May 2011, Lebanon cooperated with Lao PDR to secure language on the convention in the meeting declaration. Lebanon has cosigned letters urging states to join the convention together with Japan, which serves as Friend of the President of the First Meeting of States Parties on universalization.

Lebanon has provided interpretive statements on a number of important provisions in the convention. Lebanon has stated that the prohibition on the transfer of cluster munitions includes a prohibition on “transit;” that foreign stockpiling of cluster munitions is prohibited; that financing and investment in cluster munition production or transfer is prohibited; and that Article 1 of the convention takes precedence over Article 21, so that “States Parties must never undertake any act that could constitute deliberate assistance with a prohibited act.”[11]

Lebanon is not party to the Mine Ban Treaty or the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW). Lebanon has participated as an observer in CCW deliberations on cluster munitions in recent years, but has not made its views known on the chair’s draft protocol text.

Use, production, transfer, and stockpiling

Lebanon has stated that it has never used, produced, or stockpiled cluster munitions.[12]

Cluster munitions were used in Lebanon by Israel in 1978, 1982, and 2006. United States (US) Navy aircraft dropped 12 CBU-59 and 28 Rockeye bombs against Syrian air defense units near Beirut during an armed intervention in December 1983.[13]

In 2006, Hezbollah fired more than 100 Chinese-produced Type-81 122mm cluster munition rockets from southern Lebanon into northern Israel.[14] The source for these 122mm cluster munition rockets fired by Hezbollah is not known.

Cluster munition remnants

Cluster munition contamination originates primarily from the conflict with Israel in July–August 2006, though some contamination remains from conflict in the 1980s.[15] As of May 2011, 18.1km² was suspected to still be contaminated by cluster munition remnants across 758 suspected hazardous areas (SHAs).[16] This is an increase from the estimated 16km² remaining at the end of 2008. The fluctuating figures are the result of re-surveying the contaminated areas, completion reports, and especially the provision of strike data by Israel in May 2009.[17]

Using data received from Israel in 2009 concerning 282 strike locations (of which 166 are north of, and the other 116 south of, the Litani River), the Lebanon Mine Action Center (LMAC) identified 26 strike locations not previously found, all south of the Litani River.[18] According to LMAC director Brigadier General Mohamed Fehmi, however, the three-year delay in Israel providing information on strike locations resulted in many unnecessary casualties and considerable time and money being spent on survey.[19]

Cluster munition remnants problem as of 31 December 2010[20]

Cluster munition remnants affect water supplies and power lines, and impede the excavation of rubble, farming, and reconstruction efforts.[21] According to LMAC, if funding is maintained at early 2011 levels, with 25 battle area clearance (BAC) teams and two mechanical teams operating, Lebanon should be free from the “impact” of cluster munitions by the end of 2015.[22]

Clearance of cluster munition contaminated areas

All clearance of cluster munition remnants is now sub-surface as well as surface.[23] In 2010, Lebanon cleared 3.14km² of contaminated land, destroying 3,641 unexploded submunitions in the process. This compares to 3.92km² of clearance in 2009, resulting in the destruction of 4,784 unexploded submunitions.[24]

Clearance of cluster munition remnants in 2009 and 2010[25]

Clearance capacity

Five international NGOs, the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF), the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), and two national operators cleared mines and cluster munition remnants in 2010. With the NGOs receiving new funding in 2010, the establishment of Middle East Mines Specialists, and the April 2011 return to Lebanon of Swiss Foundation for Mine Action (FSD) under the overall direction of LMAC, Lebanon had a total clearance capacity of 20 demining teams, 29 BAC teams, seven explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) teams, two mechanical teams, and two survey teams.[26]

While the LAF has more than 200 personnel trained in EOD and demining, usually no more than four teams are available at any one time and it is not uncommon for a LAF clearance team to be called away during a clearance task and assigned to a non-mine-action task with the Army. The maximum number of LAF teams available at one time varies from one to four.[27]

As of late 2010, UNIFIL no longer had a formal BAC capacity for the clearance of unexploded submunitions.[28]

As of April 2011, DanChurchAid (DCA) had five BAC teams, MAG had seven teams, Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA) had five teams (one of which is all female), and FSD had two teams. DCA has a female supervisor responsible for an all-male team and a female medic.[29]The LAF engineer regiment contributes four BAC teams that can also be tasked to clear mines when needed.[30]

Compliance with Article 4 of the Convention on Cluster Munitions

Under Article 4 of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, Lebanon is required to complete clearance of all areas affected by cluster munition remnants under its jurisdiction or control by 1 May 2021.

LMAC director Brigadier General Mohamed Fehmi informed the Monitor in May 2011 that it is possible Lebanon could be cleared of the “impact” of all cluster munition remnants by the end of 2015.[31]

Casualties

In 2010, unexploded submunitions claimed 14 casualties (three people killed, 11 injured) including seven casualties among cluster munition clearance personnel or “searchers.”[32] One single clearance incident caused six casualties (one searcher was killed; five were injured).[33] All casualties were male, one was a child.

As of December 2010, a total of 704 cluster munition casualties had been identified, most caused by unexploded submunitions. Little data is available on casualties that occurred during cluster munition strikes; 16 casualties (three people killed; 13 injured) were identified.[34]