Madagascar
Cluster Munition Ban Policy
Summary: Madagascar ratified the convention on 20 May 2017. It has participated in all of the convention’s meetings and voted in favor of a key United Nations (UN) resolution promoting the convention in December 2017. Madagascar has condemned new use of cluster munitions and elaborated its views on several important issues for the interpretation and implementation of the convention.
Madagascar states that it has never used, produced, transferred, or stockpiled cluster munitions. It must submit a transparency report for the convention to formally confirm this status.
Policy
The Republic of Madagascar signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 3 December 2008, ratified on 20 May 2017, and the convention entered into force for the country on 1 November 2017.
It is not clear if Madagascar intends to enact specific implementation legislation to enforce the convention’s provisions. It enacted ratification legislation for the convention on 8 June 2015.[1]
As of 15 June 2018, Madagascar has not submitted its initial Article 7 transparency report for the Convention on Cluster Munitions, originally due by 30 April 2018.
Madagascar participated in the Oslo Process that created the Convention on Cluster Munitions and advocated for a strong and comprehensive convention text.[2]
Madagascar has attended every Meeting of States Parties of the convention as well as the convention’s First Review Conference in 2015 and intersessional meetings in 2011–2015. It has also participated in regional meetings of the convention, most recently in Kampala, Uganda in May 2017.[3]
Madagascar voted in favor of a UN General Assembly (UNGA) resolution promoting implementation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions in December 2017 that urges states outside the convention to “join as soon as possible.”[4]
Madagascar has condemned any use of cluster munitions “by any actor under any circumstances” on several occasions.[5] Madagascar has also voted in favor of UNGA resolutions condemning the use of cluster munitions in Syria.[6]
Madagascar has elaborated its views on several important issues relating to interpretation and implementation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions. It has stated that any investment in cluster munitions should be prohibited because of the unacceptable suffering caused by these weapons.[7] Similarly, it has stated that it would not allow any transit or foreign stockpiling of cluster munitions on its territory.[8] In regard to the issue of “interoperability,” Madagascar has stated it would refuse to provide assistance in military operations with states not party to the convention who might use cluster munitions and that in its view “assistance to prohibited acts during joint military operations with non-State Parties is not permitted by the Convention.”[9]
Madagascar is party to the Mine Ban Treaty. It is also party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons.
Use, production, transfer, and stockpiling
Madagascar has stated on several occasions that it has never used, produced, transferred, or stockpiled cluster munitions.[10] It must submit a transparency report for the convention to formally confirm this cluster munition-free status.
[1] National Assembly, “Loi n.2015-012 autorisant la ratification de la Convention de Dublin (IRLANDE) sur les armes à sous-munitions,” 12 May 2015; and Secretary General of the National Assembly, “Tableau récapitulative des lois adoptées pendant l’année 2014-2015,” 7 August 2015.
[2] For details on Madagascar’s 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. 114.
[3] Convention on Cluster Munitions Ratification Seminar, Kampala, 29–30 May 2017.
[4] “Implementation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions,” UNGA Resolution 72/54, 4 December 2017. It voted in favor of previous UNGA resolutions promoting the convention in 2015 and 2016.
[5] Statement of Madagascar, Convention on Cluster Munitions Intersessional Meetings, Geneva, 23 June 2015. See also, statement of Madagascar, Convention on Cluster Munitions Seventh Meeting of State Parties, Geneva, 4 September 2017.
[6] “Situation of human rights in the Syrian Arab Republic,” UNGA Resolution 70/234, 23 December 2015. Madagascar voted in favor of similar resolutions on 15 May and 18 December 2013, and in 2014.
[7] Statement of Madagascar, Convention on Cluster Munitions First Meeting of States Parties, Vientiane, 10 November 2010. Notes by the CMC; and letter from Amb. Rajemison Rakotomaharo, Permanent Mission of Madagascar to the UN in Geneva, 2 April 2010.
[8] Statement of Madagascar, Convention on Cluster Munitions First Meeting of States Parties, Vientiane, 10 November 2010. Notes by the CMC; statement by Gen. Marcel Ranjeva, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Convention on Cluster Munitions Signing Conference, Oslo, 4 December 2008; and letter from Amb. Rakotomaharo, Permanent Mission of Madagascar to the UN in Geneva, 2 April 2010.
[9] Statement of Madagascar, Convention on Cluster Munitions First Meeting of States Parties, Vientiane, 10 November 2010; Notes by the CMC; letter from Amb. Rakotomaharo, Permanent Mission of Madagascar to the UN in Geneva, 2 April 2010; and statement by Gen. Ranjeva, Convention on Cluster Munitions Signing Conference, Oslo, 4 December 2008.
[10] Statement of Madagascar, Lomé Regional Seminar on the Universalization of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, Lomé, Togo, 22 May 2013. Notes by Action on Armed Violence (AOAV); statement of Madagascar, Convention on Cluster Munitions First Meeting of States Parties, Vientiane, 10 November 2010. Notes by the CMC; letter from Amb. Rakotomaharo, Permanent Mission of Madagascar to the UN in Geneva, 2 April 2010; and statement by Gen. Ranjeva, Convention on Cluster Munitions Signing Conference, Oslo, 4 December 2008.
Mine Ban Policy
The Republic of Madagascar signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 4 December 1997 and ratified it on 16 September 1999, becoming a State Party on 1 March 2000. Madagascar has never used, produced, or exported antipersonnel mines, and it does not have a stockpile, despite some indications that it may have had a stockpile of mines prior to becoming a State Party. Madagascar has not enacted new legislation specifically to implement the Mine Ban Treaty. Madagascar submitted its 10th Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 report on 3 August 2011.
Madagascar attended the Tenth Meeting of States Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty in Geneva in November–December 2010, but did not attend the intersessional Standing Committee meetings in Geneva in June 2011.
Madagascar is party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons and its Amended Protocol II on landmines and Protocol V on explosive remnants of war.