28 October 2013

Macedonia Completes Stockpile Destruction

25th October 2013 the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYR Macedonia) completed destruction of its stockpiled cluster m

unitions, well ahead of the 2018 deadline mandated by the Convention on Cluster Munitions.The destruction of final stocks of the weapon in Krivolak, Macedonia, marked the end of a 9 month project that saw cooperation between Cluster Munition Coalition (CMC) member organisation Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA) and the Macedonian Ministry of Defense, with funding from the Ministries of Foreign Affairs of Germany and Norway.

The CMC welcomes this announcement which demonstrates that stockpile destruction does not need to be high-tech or expensive and that international assistance is available for states that need financial and/or technical support. "The Macedonian disposal project, and similarly the Moldovan success story, shows that with good cooperation between civil society and states' Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Defence, and with international support; momentum can be gained and maintained in the destruction of these banned munitions", said Project Manager Lee Moroney of Norwegian People's Aid.

Stockpile destruction is one of the greatest successes of the Convention so far. According to the Cluster Munition Monitor 2013, under the Convention on Cluster Munitions States Parties have destroyed 1.03 million cluster munitions and 122.0 million submunitions. Let’s keep it going!