Vanuatu
Cluster Munition Ban Policy
Five-Year Review: Non-signatory Vanuatu adopted the convention in 2008 and its executive Council of Ministers has considered the country’s accession to the convention, but the current status of the accession process is not known. It has not participated in any meetings of the convention. Vanuatu has confirmed 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 status of its accession process is not known. In October 2012, a government official said the Council of Ministers was considering Vanuatu’s accession to the convention.[1] In April 2011, the director-general of Vanuatu’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs informed the Monitor that the Council was considering a policy paper on the convention.[2] In July 2011, a government representative informed the Monitor that relevant authorities were holding consultations on the convention.[3]
Vanuatu joined the Oslo Process in February 2008 and endorsed the Wellington Declaration in support 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 not participated in any meetings of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, such as the Fifth Meeting of States Parties in San Jose, Costa Rica in September 2014.[4]
Vanuatu has voted in favor of recent 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.[5]
Vanuatu is a State Party to the Mine Ban Treaty.
Use, production, transfer, and stockpiling
Vanuatu has stated that it “does not use, produce, stockpile or transfer cluster munitions.”[6]
[1] CMC meeting with Jenny Tevi, Senior Desk Officer, Treaties and Conventions Divisions, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in Koror, Palau, 26 October 2012.
[2] Letter from Jean Sese, Director-General, Ministry of Foreign Affairs to Mary Wareham, Senior Advisor, Human Rights Watch (HRW), 6 April 2011.
[3] Interview with Roline Tekon, Director, Treaties and Conventions Division, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in New York, 14 July 2011.
[4] Vanuatu attended a Pacific regional workshop on explosive remnants of war (ERW) in Brisbane, Australia on 27–28 June 2013. Email from Lorel Thompson, National Coordinator, Safe Ground, 30 March 2014.
[5] “Situation of human rights in the Syrian Arab Republic,” UNGA Resolution A/RES/69/189, 18 December 2014. Vanuatu voted in favor of similar resolutions in 2013, on 15 May and 18 December.
[6] 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.