Policy

The Republic of Kiribati has not acceded to the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

The status of accession is not known. In September 2011, Kiribati made its only public statement on the convention, when a representative informed States Parties said that the government was considering its position on joining the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

Kiribati did not participate in the Oslo Process and did not attend a meeting on cluster munitions or make a public statement on the convention until the Second Meeting of States Parties in Beirut, Lebanon in September 2011.[1] Kiribati attended the convention’s intersessional meetings in Geneva in April 2013. It has not attended any subsequent meetings of the convention.

Kiribati has voted in favor of UN General Assembly (UNGA) resolutions condemning the use of cluster munitions in Syria, including Resolution 69/189 on 18 December 2014, which expressed “outrage” at the continued use.[2]

Kiribati is a State Party to the Mine Ban Treaty. It has not joined the Convention on Conventional Weapons.

Use, production, transfer, and stockpiling

In September 2011, Kiribati confirmed that it “has never used, produced, transferred, or stockpiled cluster munitions.”[3]

Kiribati is affected by unexploded ordnance, particularly Betio and South Tarawa, but is not believed to be contaminated by cluster munition remnants.[4]

^[1] In a statement to the meeting, the representative said that Kiribati was considering its position on accession to the convention. Statement of Kiribati, Convention on Cluster Munitions Second Meeting of States Parties, Beirut, 16 September 2011.

^[2] “Situation of human rights in the Syrian Arab Republic,” UNGA Resolution A/RES/69/189, 18 December 2014. Kiribati voted in favor of similar resolutions in 2013, on 15 May and 18 December.

^[3] Statement of Kiribati, Convention on Cluster Munitions Second Meeting of States Parties, Beirut, 16 September 2011.

^[4] The government has stated that Kiribati is not affected by antipersonnel landmines. Statement of Kiribati, Mine Ban Treaty Second Review Conference, Cartagena, 4 December 2009.