Comoros

Cluster Munition Ban Policy

Last updated: 05 July 2017

Summary: State Party Comoros ratified the convention on 28 July 2010. It has not indicated if it will adopt national implementation measures for the convention. Comoros has participated in several of the convention’s Meetings of States Parties, most recently in 2013, and voted in favor of a UN resolution on the convention in December 2016. 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, but must provide an initial transparency report for the convention to formally confirm this status.

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 30 June 2017, Comoros still has not submitted its initial Article 7 transparency report for the Convention on Cluster Munitions, which was 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 participated in the convention’s Meetings of States Parties in 2011, 2012, and 2013. It has not attended any meetings since then.

In December 2016, Comoros voted in favor of a UN General Assembly (UNGA) resolution promoting implementation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions.[3]

Comoros has voted in favor of UNGA resolutions condemning the use of cluster munitions in Syria, most recently in December 2016.[4]

With respect to 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.”[5]

Comoros has not elaborated its views on other important issues relating to the convention’s interpretation and implementation, 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.[6] It must provide an Article 7 transparency report for the convention to confirm its cluster munition-free status.



[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]Implementation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions,” UNGA Resolution 71/45, 5 December 2016. Comoros voted in favor of a similar UNGA resolution on the convention in 2015. “Implementation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions,” UNGA Resolution 70/54, 7 December 2015.

[4]Situation of human rights in the Syrian Arab Republic,” UNGA Resolution 71/203, 19 December 2016. Comoros voted in favor of similar resolutions on 15 May and 18 December 2013, and 18 December 2014.

[5] Email from Bourhane Mirhane, Ministry of External Affairs, 18 April 2011.

[6] Interview with Mohamed El-Marouf, Permanent Mission of the Union of Comoros to the UN in New York, in Pretoria, 25 March 2010.