Comoros

Cluster Munition Ban Policy

Last updated: 13 September 2021

Summary

State Party Comoros ratified the convention on 28 July 2010. It has participated in meetings of the convention, but not since 2013. Comoros has voted in favor of key annual United Nations (UN) resolutions promoting the convention since 2015.

Comoros states that it has never used, produced, transferred, or stockpiled cluster munitions. It must provide a transparency report for the convention to formally confirm this cluster munition-free 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 has not adopted national implementation legislation to enforce the convention’s provisions.[1]

As of July 2021, 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 2011–2013, but none since then.

In December 2020, 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 the annual UNGA resolution on the convention since it was first introduced in 2015.

Comoros has voted in favor of UNGA resolutions condemning the use of cluster munitions in Syria, most recently in December 2020.[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 and assistance with prohibited acts in joint military operations, and the prohibition on investing in cluster munition production.

Comoros is a State Party to the Mine Ban Treaty. It is not party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW).

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 (HRW) 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 75/62, 7 December 2020.

[4]Situation of human rights in the Syrian Arab Republic,” UNGA Resolution 75/193, 16 December 2020. Comoros voted in favor of similar resolutions during 2013–2019.

[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.