Peru completes destruction of its stockpile of cluster munitions

All stockpiles under the Convention on Cluster Munitions now destroyed!

On 15 December, Peru completed destruction of its remaining stockpiles of cluster munitions, becoming the last State Party to the Convention on Cluster Munitions to fulfil its obligation to destroy its stockpiled cluster munitions. The destruction was carried out with the support of CMC member Norwegian People’s Aid. With this accomplishment, all cluster munitions stockpiled by convention States Parties have now been destroyed, a milestone that the shows the impressive positive impact of the convention.

Earlier in 2023, States Parties Bulgaria, Slovakia, and South Africa also completed destruction of their stockpiled cluster munitions. The three countries destroyed a combined total of 9,582 cluster munitions and 585,422 submunitions. Peru began its stockpile destruction in 2017 and destroyed a total of 2,012 air-dropped cluster munitions and 162,417 submunitions.

The 2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions, to which 112 countries including Peru are party, comprehensively bans cluster munitions and requires the destruction of stockpiles, clearance of cluster munition remnants, and assistance to victims of the weapons.

Article 3 of the Convention on Cluster Munitions requires each State Party to declare and destroy all stockpiled cluster munitions under its jurisdiction or control as soon as possible, but no later than eight years after the treaty enters into force for that country.

According to the Cluster Munition Monitor, prior to the start of the global effort to ban cluster munitions, approximately 95 countries stockpiled millions of cluster munitions, containing more than one billion submunitions.

In total, States Parties to the convention have destroyed 1.489 million cluster munitions and 179 million submunitions, 100% of the cluster munition stocks declared. Of the 112 states that have ratified the Convention on Cluster Munitions, 43 States Parties declared stocks of cluster munitions that they have now completely destroyed, while the rest never held any or destroyed them long before the convention was adopted in 2008.

© Peru Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 2023