Kiribati
Mine Ban Policy
The Republic of Kiribati acceded to the Mine Ban Treaty on 7 September 2000, becoming a State Party on 1 March 2001. Kiribati has never used, produced, imported, exported, or stockpiled antipersonnel mines, including for training purposes. Kiribati believes that existing legislation is sufficient to enforce the antipersonnel mine prohibition domestically. Kiribati submitted its second Article 7 transparency report on 4 June 2004 but has not submitted subsequent annual reports.
Kiribati did not attend any Mine Ban Treaty meetings in 2010 or the first half of 2011.
Kiribati is not party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons.
Kiribati has residual unexploded ordnance contamination from World War II.
Cluster Munition Ban Policy
The Republic of Kiribati has not yet 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 it informed States Parties said that it 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 September 2011, when a government representative attended the Second Meeting of States Parties in Beirut, Lebanon.[1] Kiribati did not attend subsequent Meetings of States Parties in 2012 or 2013, but it participated in the convention’s intersessional meetings in Geneva for the first time in April 2013. It was not present for the intersessional meetings held in April 2014. Kiribati also attended a regional workshop on explosive remnants of war (ERW) in the Pacific held in Brisbane, Australia in June 2013.[2]
Kiribati has voted in favor of UN General Assembly (UNGA) resolutions condemning the Syrian government’s cluster munition use, including Resolution 68/182 on 18 December 2013, which expressed “outrage” at Syria’s “continued widespread and systematic gross violations of human rights…including those involving the use of…cluster munitions.”[3]
Kiribati is a State Party to the Mine Ban Treaty. It has not joined the Convention on Conventional Weapons.
In September 2011, Kiribati confirmed that it “has never used, produced, transferred, or stockpiled cluster munitions.”[4]
Kiribati is affected by unexploded ordnance, particularly Betio and South Tarawa, but is not believed to be affected by cluster munition remnants.[5]
[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] The Pacific Regional ERW Workshop was jointly hosted by the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat and ICBL-CMC member organization Safe Ground (formerly the Australian Network to Ban Landmines and Cluster Munitions) with support from AusAID. Draft Outcomes Statement, Pacific Regional ERW Workshop, 27–28 June 2013. Provided to the Monitor by Loral Thompson, National Coordinator, Safe Ground, 30 March 2014.
[3] “Situation of human rights in the Syrian Arab Republic,” UNGA Resolution A/RES/68/182, 18 December 2013. Kiribati voted in favor of a similar resolution on 15 May 2013.
[4] Statement of Kiribati, Convention on Cluster Munitions Second Meeting of States Parties, Beirut, Lebanon, 16 September 2011.
[5] 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.