Convention on Cluster Munitions

The Convention on Cluster Munitions (CCM) prohibits under any circumstances the use, development, production, acquisition, stockpiling and transfer of cluster munitions, as well as the assistance or encouragement of anyone to engage in prohibited activities. The text of the Convention is available for download in the six official UN languages: عربي, 中文, English, français, русский, español.

A cluster munition is a weapon consisting of a container or dispenser from which many submunitions or bomblets are scattered over wide areas. Many submunitions are unreliable and fail to explode, thus creating a potential humanitarian impact on civilians both during as well as long after the conflict ends.  

The Convention provides a comprehensive international response to the suffering caused by the use of cluster munitions and their remnants, to prevent the proliferation and future use of these weapons. 

The Convention was opened for signature in Oslo on 3 December 2008 and entered into force on 1 August 2010. 

Responsibilities entrusted to the Secretary-General of the United Nations

Under the terms of the Convention, a number of responsibilities have been entrusted to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, including: 

• Collection and dissemination of transparency reports by and to the States Parties (Article 7); 
• Facilitation of clarification of compliance (Article 8); and 
• Convening Meetings of States Parties (Article 11) and Review Conferences (Article 12). 

Furthermore, in accordance with the relevant GA Resolution(s), the Secretary-General is “requested to render the necessary assistance and to provide such services as may be necessary to fulfill the tasks entrusted to him by the Convention on Cluster Munitions.”

For information on the implementation of the Convention, visit the website of the CCM Implementation Support Unit.

Joining the Convention on Cluster Munitions

Signature

Pursuant to Article 15, the Convention was opened for signature by all States from 3 December 2008 until its entry into force on 1 August.

Please note that the Convention is now closed for signature.

How to become a party to the Convention

Pursuant to Article 16, the Convention is subject to ratification, acceptance or approval by the Signatories. Any State which has not signed this Convention may accede to it.

To become a party to the Convention the State concerned shall formally declare its consent to be bound by it in accordance with its constitutional arrangements for adherence to an international agreement. These constitutional arrangements generally require domestic action by the national parliament. Once the domestic requirements have been completed, an instrument of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession must be deposited with the Secretary-General of the United Nations, in his capacity as the Convention’s depositary.

Pursuant to Article 17, paragraph 2, the Convention shall enter into force for that State on the first day of the sixth month after the date on which that State has deposited its instrument of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession. However, any State may at the time of its ratification, acceptance, approval or accession, declare according to Article 18 that it will apply provisionally Article 1 of this Convention pending its entry into force.

The Articles of the Convention are not subject to reservations.

ICRC, in cooperation with the United Nations, have developed a CCM Ratification Kit. The Ratification Kit contains a short description of the main obligations of the States parties in implementing the Convention, as well as a model instruments of accession to the Convention. The text of the CCM Ratification Kit is available for download in the six official UN languages:  عربي, 中文, English, Français, русский, Español.

For more information, please contact the CCM Secretariat with the Office for Disarmament Affairs (Geneva branch), e-mail: ccm@un.org; or to Treaty Section, Office of Legal Affairs, United Nations, New York, NY 10017, e-mail: treaty@un.org.

Transparency measures

Pursuant to Article 7 of the Convention, titled “Transparency measures”, each State Party is under obligation to report to the Secretary-General of the United Nations as soon as practicable, and in any event not later than 180 days after the entry into force of this Convention for that State Party on various aspects of its implementation.

In particular, the States Parties shall report on the following:

1. National implementation measures referred to in Article 9 of the Convention;
2. All cluster munitions, including explosive submunitions, referred to in Article 3 (1) of the Convention;
3. Technical characteristics of all cluster munitions produced or owned by the State Party;
4. status of programmes for the conversion or decommissioning of cluster munition production facilities;
5. Status of programmes for destruction of cluster munitions, in accordance with Article 3 of the Convention;
6. Types and quantities of cluster munitions destroyed in accordance with Article 3 of the Convention;
7. Cluster munitions discovered after completion of the destruction referred to in sub-paragraph (e) and plans for their destruction;
8. Size and location of all cluster munition contaminated areas;
9. Status of programmes for the clearance and destruction of all cluster munition remnants in accordance with Article 4 of this Convention;
10. Measures taken to provide risk reduction education and effective warning to civilians;
11. Status of implementation of the obligations under Article 5 of the Convention with respect to cluster munition victims;
12. Institutions mandated to provide information;
13. National resources, including financial, material or in kind, allocated to the implementation of Articles 3, 4 and 5 of the Convention; and
14. International cooperation and assistance provided under Article 6 of the Convention.

The information provided under Article 7 must be updated by the States parties annually, covering the last calendar year (i.e. 1 January through 31 December), and reported to the Secretary-General of the United Nations no later than 30 April of each year, in care of the following address:

CCM Secretariat
United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs, Geneva Branch
Palais des Nations
Avenue de la Paix 8-14
1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland
E-mail: ccm@un.org

To facilitate transparency reporting, the First Meeting of States parties to the CCM adopted and recommended for use by the States Parties the reporting forms, as contained in document CCM/MSP/2010/WP.4. More recently, the 11 MSP adopted new reporting formsas contained in CCM/MSP/2023/7 and available through the Official Document System of the United Nations in all six official languages (Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian, Spanish).