The Auswärtiges Amt (German Federal Foreign Office, GFFO) hosted the Berlin Conference on the Destruction of Cluster Munitions at the Hilton Hotel, Berlin, from 25 to 26 June 2009, in collaboration with the Royal Norwegian Ministry for Foreign Affairs. The Conference was supported by the Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining (GICHD), as well as the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

One of the key obligations of the Convention on Cluster Munitions (CCM) is the destruction of stockpiled cluster munitions (Article 3) which States Parties will have to complete within eight years after the entry into force of the Convention. The provisions on retention of cluster munitions (Article 3), on international cooperation and assistance (Article 6) and on transparency (Article 7) are directly related to the issue of the destruction of stockpiled cluster munitions.

Given the technical challenges posed by the destruction of cluster munitions and the short deadline to complete the task, the GFFO decided to organize the Berlin Conference to define key challenges related to destruction, and to provide information how to complete the Article 3 and related obligations. This conference also aimed at maintaining the momentum of the signing ceremony of the CCM, held in Oslo on 3 December 2008.

As of June 2009, a total of 98 States have signed the CCM, and 10 of them have ratified it. The Berlin Conference gathered 84 of the 98 signatories, including nearly all those with cluster munitions stockpiles. Representatives from non-governmental organizations (NGOs), international organizations and companies working on cluster munitions stockpile destruction also participated in the conference.