Mauritius

Cluster Munition Ban Policy

Last updated: 05 August 2015

Five-Year Review: Non-signatory Mauritius’s Cabinet of Ministers approved accession to the convention in June 2015. It has participated in several meetings of the convention and expressed its interest in acceding on several occasions. Mauritius states that it has never used, produced, transferred, or stockpiled cluster munitions.

Policy

The Republic of Mauritius has not yet acceded to the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

On 26 June 2015, the executive Cabinet of Ministers of Mauritius approved accession to the Convention on Cluster Munitions.[1]

Since 2010, government officials have often expressed Mauritius’s support for the convention and its intent to accede, indicating there are no obstacles for it to join.[2] Previously, in June 2014, Zambia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs visited Port Louis to encourage Mauritius to accede to the convention in meetings with his counterpart, Arvin Boolell, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Regional Integration and International Trade of Mauritius.[3] In 2012, Mauritius stated that relevant actors were considering accession.[4]

Mauritius said in 2011 that it may prepare specific implementing legislation for the convention or else amend existing legislation to enforce the convention.[5]

Mauritius participated in one meeting of the Oslo Process that created the Convention on Cluster Munitions, a regional conference held in Kampala, Uganda in September 2008.[6]

Mauritius has participated as an observer in two Meetings of States Parties to the convention (2010 and 2012). It has attended the convention’s intersessional meetings held in Geneva since 2011. Mauritius has attended regional workshops on the convention, most recently a seminar hosted by Zambia and the ICRC in Lusaka on 17–18 June 2015.[7]

Mauritius has voted in favor of recent UN General Assembly (UNGA) resolutions condemning the use of cluster munitions in Syria, including Resolution 69/189 on 18 December 2014, which expressed “outrage” at the continued use.[8]

Mauritius is a State Party to the Mine Ban Treaty. It is also party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons.

Use, production, transfer, and stockpiling

Mauritius has stated several times that it has never used, produced, transferred, or stockpiled cluster munitions.[9]



[2] In May 2012, Mauritius stated that the National Humanitarian Law Committee of the Prime Minister’s Office was examining the implications of Mauritius acceding to the ban convention. Statement of Mauritius, Accra Regional Conference on the Universalization of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, Accra, 28 May 2012. In April 2012, an official in the Prime Minister’s Office informed the Monitor that Mauritius intended to “do its best” to sign and ratify the convention in the near future. Response to Monitor questionnaire by Raj Guzadhur, Officer, Prime Minister’s Office, 10 April 2012. In 2010, government representatives said that Mauritius was considering becoming a party to the convention and that there were no obstacles for it to join. CMC meeting with the delegation of Mauritius to the Convention on Cluster Munitions First Meeting of States Parties, Vientiane, 10 November 2010; and CMC meeting with the delegation of Mauritius, International Conference on the Convention on Cluster Munitions, Santiago, 7–9 June 2010. Notes by the CMC.

[3] Alick Banda, “Kalaba lobbies Mauritius to accede to Convention on Cluster Munitions,” The Independent Observer (Zambia), 6 June 2014.

[4] Mauritius also stated that with such a symbiotic partnership between governments and civil society underpinning the convention “the goal of universalization of the Convention on Cluster Munitions is not far.” Statement of Mauritius, Convention on Cluster Munitions Third Meeting of States Parties, Oslo, 13 September 2012.

[5] According to an official, international treaties ratified by Mauritius are not automatically incorporated into the domestic law, so it would likely need to amend existing legislation, such as the Explosives Act, or enact separate implementing legislation to give effect to the Convention on Cluster Munitions. Mauritius received the model implementation law circulated at the First Meeting of States Parties and believes it could be adapted for use as implementation legislation should Mauritius join the convention. Response to Monitor questionnaire by Gulshan Ramreka, Assistant Secretary, Prime Minister’s Office, 28 March 2011.

[6] Mauritius attended a regional conference held in Kampala, Uganda in September 2008. For more information, see ICBL, Cluster Munition Monitor 2010 (Ottawa: Mines Action Canada, October 2010), pp. 228–229.

[8]Situation of human rights in the Syrian Arab Republic,” UNGA Resolution A/RES/69/189, 18 December 2014. Mauritius voted in favor of similar resolutions on 15 May and 18 December 2013

[9] Statement of Mauritius, Accra Regional Conference on the Universalization of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, Accra, 28 May 2012; response to Monitor questionnaire by Raj Guzadhur, Prime Minister’s Office, 10 April 2012; and response to Monitor questionnaire by Gulshan Ramreka, Prime Minister’s Office, 28 March 2011.