What does the Convention say?
Article 9 requires that each State Party shall take all appropriate legal, administrative and other measures to implement this Convention, including the imposition of penal sanctions to prevent and suppress any activity prohibited to a State Party under this Convention and undertaken by persons or on territory under its jurisdiction or control.
Article 9 specifies no predetermined way in which implementation must be done – what matters is that States Parties are able to comply with all the Convention’s requirements, both its core prohibitions and positive obligations, and that they do so on the basis of their own legal system and constitution.
Below is an overview of implementation status based on Article 7 reports to date:
- 61 States Parties have undertaken appropriate national legal measures to include penal sanctions
- 12 have enacted national law prohibiting investments in cluster munitions
- 23 are in the process of reviewing or adopting national legislation to implement the CCM
- 53 have undertaken administrative and other (non-legal) measures in place to implement the CCM domestically
What next?
In terms of national implementation measures, the Lausanne Action Plan encourages States Parties to:
- adopt appropriate national measures to fully implement the Convention and disseminate their obligations under the Convention to all relevant national institutions;
- consider enacting national legislation prohibiting investments in all producers of cluster munitions; and
- request assistance when facing challenges in the revision or adoption of national legislation, or provide assistance in this matter when in a position to do so.