Vanuatu
Cluster Munition Ban Policy
Summary: Non-signatory Vanuatu adopted the convention in 2008, but a domestic process to consider accession has not progressed since 2011. It voted in favor of a key United Nations (UN) resolution on the convention in December 2017. Vanuatu has stated that it does not use, produce, stockpile, or transfer cluster munitions.
Policy
The Republic of Vanuatu has not yet acceded to the Convention on Cluster Munitions.
Government officials have expressed support for the convention’s objectives, but the accession process does not appear to have progressed since 2011, when the Council of Ministers considered the convention.[1]
In February 2018, Vanuatu attended the Pacific Conference on Conventional Weapons Treaties and adopted the conference’s “Auckland Declaration,” acknowledging “the clear moral and humanitarian rationale for joining” the Convention on Cluster Munitions. The declaration states that during the meeting “some states not yet party to the Convention undertook to positively consider membership of it.”[2]
During the Oslo Process that created the convention, Vanuatu participated in the Wellington Conference on Cluster Munitions in February 2008 and endorsed the Wellington Declaration supporting the conclusion of an instrument prohibiting cluster munitions. It joined in the consensus adoption of the Convention on Cluster Munitions in Dublin in May 2008 but did not attend the Signing Conference in Oslo in December 2008.
Vanuatu has never participated in a meeting of the Convention on Cluster Munitions.
In December 2017, Vanuatu voted in favor of a UN General Assembly (UNGA) resolution that calls on states outside the Convention on Cluster Munitions to “join as soon as possible.”[3] Vanuatu also voted in favor of a previous UNGA resolution promoting the convention in 2016.
Vanuatu has also voted in favor of UNGA resolutions expressing outrage at the use of cluster munitions in Syria, most recently in December 2017.[4]
Vanuatu is a State Party to the Mine Ban Treaty. It is not party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons.
Use, production, transfer, and stockpiling
Vanuatu stated in 2011 that it “does not use, produce, stockpile or transfer cluster munitions.”[5]
[1] In 2011, the director-general of Vanuatu’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs informed the Monitor that the Council was reviewing a policy paper on the convention. Letter from Jean Sese, Director-General, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to Mary Wareham, Senior Advisor, Human Rights Watch (HRW), 6 April 2011. Another representative said that relevant authorities were holding stakeholder consultations on the convention. Interview with Roline Tekon, Director, Treaties and Conventions Division, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, New York, 14 July 2011.
[2] “Auckland Declaration on Conventional Weapons Treaties,” Pacific Conference on Conventional Weapons Treaties, Auckland, New Zealand, 12–14 February 2018.
[3] “Implementation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions,” UNGA Resolution 72/54, 4 December 2017.
[4] “Situation of human rights in the Syrian Arab Republic,” UNGA Resolution 72/191, 19 December 2017.It voted in favor of similar resolutions in 2013–2016.
[5] Letter from Jean Sese, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to Mary Wareham, HRW, 6 April 2011.
Mine Ban Policy
The Republic of Vanuatu signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 4 December 1997 and ratified it on 16 September 2005, becoming a State Party on 1 March 2006. It has never used, produced, exported, or imported antipersonnel mines, including for training purposes. It has not enacted new legislation specifically to implement the Mine Ban Treaty. Vanuatu submitted its second Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 report on 30 April 2008 but has not submitted subsequent annual reports.
Vanuatu did not attend any Mine Ban Treaty intersessional Standing Committee meetings in Geneva in June 2011.
Vanuatu is not party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons.
Vanuatu is affected by unexploded ordnance from World War II.