Summary: Non-signatory the Marshall Islands has expressed support for prohibiting cluster munitions but has not taken any steps to accede to the convention. It voted in favor of a key United Nations (UN) resolution on the convention in December 2018. The Marshall Islands is not known to have used, produced, transferred, or stockpiled cluster munitions.

Policy

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

The Marshall Islands has never commented on its position on accession. [1]

During the Oslo Process that created the convention, the Marshall Islands participated in the Wellington Conference on Cluster Munitions in February 2008 and endorsed the Wellington Declaration agreeing to conclude a legally binding instrument. [2] Yet it did not attend the subsequent Dublin negotiations or the convention’s Signing Conference in Oslo.

The Marshall Islands has never participated in a meeting of the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

In December 2018, the Marshall Islands voted in favor of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) resolution that urges states outside the Convention on Cluster Munitions to “join as soon as possible.” [3] It has voted in favor of the annual UNGA resolution promoting the convention since 2015.

The Marshall Islands has also voted in favor of UNGA resolutions expressing outrage at the use of cluster munitions in Syria, most recently in December 2018. [4]

The Marshall Islands is the last signatory left to ratify the Mine Ban Treaty. It is not party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons.

Use, production, transfer, and stockpiling

The Marshall Islands is not known to have ever used, produced, transferred, or stockpiled cluster munitions.