13 December 2018
Gambia ratifies the Convention on Cluster Munitions to become 105th State Party!
Gambia deposited its instrument of ratification of the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 11 December at the United Nations’ headquarters in New York. Congratulations to Gambia on becoming the 105th State Party!
A signatory of the Convention on Cluster Munitions since 2008, Gambia does not produce or stockpile cluster munitions.
Gambia is not known to have used cluster munitions. It has voted in favour of UNGA resolutions condemning the use of cluster munitions in Syria, most recently in December 2015.
"We welcome Gambia’s ratification of the Convention on Cluster Munitions as the 105th State Party joining what is arguably the most important humanitarian and disarmament treaty of the last decade. With its ratification, Gambia is setting an example for the African states which have yet to join the Convention” said Hector Guerra, Director of the Cluster Munition Coalition.
With Gambia's ratification, 43 of 54 African countries have joined the Convention on Cluster Munitions. Thirteen states - Angola, Benin, Central African Republic, DRC, Djibouti, Kenya, Liberia, Madagascar, Namibia, Nigeria, Sao Tomé and Principe, Tanzania and Uganda - have signed but not yet ratified the Convention. Only 11 African states - Algeria, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Libya, Morocco, South Sudan, Sudan and Zimbabwe - remain outside the Convention.
The Convention will enter into force for Gambia on 1 June 2019.
