On 25 November 2015 the Government of Germany completed the destruction of their stockpiles of cluster munitions in accordance with its obligations as a State Party to the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

Croatia welcomes the destruction of stockpiled cluster munitions by Germany, which comes three years ahead of the mandated deadline, thus sending a clear signal of the strong commitment of Germany to the core obligations of the Convention.

Germany’s stockpiles once consisted of more than 500,000 cluster munitions and almost 60 million submunitions.

On this occasion the German Federal Foreign Minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier said: “Our goal is and remains a worldwide ban on cluster munitions.“

According to Article 3 of the Convention, States Parties must destroy all stockpiles of cluster munitions within eight years after the Convention entered into force. As of today, there are 13 States Parties with obligations under the Article 3 of the CCM.

Since Convention’s entry into force on 1 August 2010, States Parties have destroyed more than 500,000 cluster munitions and 85 million submunitions. In total, 27 States Parties have destroyed 1.3 million cluster munitions and 160 million submunitions, which represents 88% of cluster munitions and 90% of submunitions declared as stockpiled by States Parties, according to information available.

Croatia is encouraged by the fact that States Parties with cluster munitions stockpiles have stated that these will be destroyed within the eight year deadline set by the Convention, which clearly shows the commitment assumed by the states and their involvement.