Norway

Norway has fulfilled its Convention on Cluster Munitions (CCM) Article 4 obligations to clear cluster munition remnants (CMR), having completed clearance of the sole confirmed area containing CMR in September 2013.Declaration of compliance with Article 4.1 (a) of the CCM, 1 September 2014.

The area that was contaminated is on the Norwegian mainland, part of the former Hjerkinn shooting range in the Dovre mountain area, in Oppland county. The hazardous area, known as “HFK-sletta”, was used for test firing artillery-delivered cluster munitions (DM 1383 and DM 1385) in the period 1986–2007. It covered a total area of 617,300m². The shooting range is in the process of being decommissioned, and CMR clearance was part of a larger explosive ordnance disposal operation conducted by the Norwegian defence forces.Declaration of compliance with Article 4.1 (a) of the CCM, 1 September 2014.

In its initial CCM Article 7 report in 2011, and in subsequent Article 7 reports in 2012 and 2013, Norway reported that the contaminated area contained an estimated 30 unexploded submunitions.CCM Article 7 Reports, Form F, 2011, 2012, and 2013 (for 1 August 2010–31 December 2012). However, upon completion of CMR survey and clearance, Norway declared that only two bomblets had been destroyed between the start of operations in 2008 and completion in 2013.Declaration of compliance with Article 4.1 (a) of the CCM, 1 September 2014.

In March 2014, Norway reported under the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons, that clearance of CMR contamination had been completed in late 2013 and that the remaining area contaminated by other unexploded ordnance (UXO) was expected to be cleared by 2020.Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons Protocol V Report, Form A, 31 March 2014. At the CCM intersessional meetings in April 2014, Norway announced completion of CMR clearance,Statement of Norway, CCM Intersessional Meetings, Geneva, April 2014. and its April 2014 Article 7 transparency report declared that clearance had been completed by the third quarter of 2013.CCM Article 7 Report, Form F, 30 April 2014. CMR clearance was conducted by a dedicated explosive detection dog (EDD) unit comprising three dog handlers and eight dogs engaged in searching “boxes” of 10m².Declaration of compliance with Article 4.1 (a) of the CCM, 1 September 2014. 

At the Fifth Meeting of States Parties in September 2014, Norway announced it had submitted its formal Declaration of Article 4 Compliance to the United Nations on 29 August 2014, and, as such, had completed its clearance obligations under the CCM.Statement of Norway, CCM Fifth Meeting of States Parties, Costa Rica, 2–5 September 2014.

Under Article 4 of the CCM, Norway was required to destroy all CMR in areas under its jurisdiction or control as soon as possible, but not later than 1 August 2020. Norway completed CMR clearance nearly seven years before its deadline.

In its declaration of Article 4 compliance, Norway stated that as of 9 September 2013 it had made every effort to identify all areas under its jurisdiction and [sic]Norway’s declaration of compliance with CCM Art. 4(1)(a) mistakenly states “jurisdiction and control”, instead of “jurisdiction or control”, which is the wording in Article 4. control contaminated by cluster munitions, and that as of that date it had cleared and destroyed all CMR found in accordance with Article 4 of the CCM.Declaration of compliance with CCM Art. 4(1)(a), submitted by Norway, 1 September 2014.