Comoros
Cluster Munition Ban Policy
Five-Year Review: State Party Comoros ratified the convention on 28 July 2010. It is not known if national implementation measures will be undertaken for the convention, as Comoros has not provided its initial transparency report, originally due in 2011. Comoros has participated in several of the convention’s Meetings of States Parties and it has elaborated its views on important issues for the interpretation and implementation of the convention. Comoros states that it has never used, produced, transferred, or stockpiled cluster munitions.
Policy
The Union of Comoros signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 3 December 2008, ratified on 28 July 2010, and the convention entered into force for the country on 1 January 2011.
Comoros is not known to have undertaken any national implementation legislation to enforce the convention’s provisions.[1]
As of 4 July 2015, Comoros still had not submitted its initial Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 7 report, originally due by 30 June 2011.
Comoros participated in the Oslo Process that created the convention and advocated for the strongest possible text.[2]
Comoros has participated in three of the convention’s Meetings of States Parties (2011, 2012, and 2013). It has not attended the convention’s intersessional meetings held in Geneva since 2011.
Comoros has voted in favor of recent UN General Assembly (UNGA) resolutions condemning the Syrian government’s use of cluster munitions, including Resolution 69/189 on 18 December 2014, which expressed “outrage” at the continued use.[3]
On matters related to the interpretation and implementation of the convention, concerning the prohibition on transit of cluster munitions through the territory of a State Party Comoros has stated, “we cannot tolerate any form of transit, even from states which have not signed the convention.”[4] Comoros has not yet stated its views on other issues of importance for the interpretation and implementation of the convention such as the prohibition on foreign stockpiling, the prohibition on assistance with prohibited acts in joint military operations, and the prohibition on investment in cluster munition production.
Comoros is a State Party to the Mine Ban Treaty. It is not party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons.
Use, production, transfer, and stockpiling
Comoros has stated that it has never used, produced, transferred, or stockpiled cluster munitions.[5]
[1] Legislation to ratify the convention was approved by the Federal Assembly on 9 June 2010 (Law No. 10-OOS/AU) and signed into law by the president 10 days later (Presidential Decree No. 10-078/PR). Letter No. 261/07/MP/NY-10 from Mohamed El-Marouf, Chargé d’Affaires, Permanent Mission of the Union of Comoros to the UN in New York, 26 July 2010.
[2] For details on Comoros’ cluster munition policy and practice up to early 2009, see Human Rights Watch and Landmine Action, Banning Cluster Munitions: Government Policy and Practice (Ottawa: Mines Action Canada, May 2009), p. 60.
[3] “Situation of human rights in the Syrian Arab Republic,” UNGA Resolution A/RES/69/189, 18 December 2014. Comoros voted in favor of similar resolutions on 15 May and 18 December 2013.
[4] Email from Bourhane Mirhane, Ministry of External Affairs, 18 April 2011.
[5] Interview with Mohamed El-Marouf, Permanent Mission of the Union of Comoros to the UN in New York, in Pretoria, 25 March 2010.