Papua New Guinea
Mine Ban Policy
Papua New Guinea acceded to the Mine Ban Treaty on 28 June 2004, becoming a State Party on 1 December 2004. Papua New Guinea has never used, produced, exported, or imported antipersonnel mines, including for training purposes. Papua New Guinea believes that existing legislation is sufficient to enforce the antipersonnel mine prohibition domestically. Papua New Guinea submitted its initial Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 report on 29 November 2004 but has not submitted subsequent reports.
Papua New Guinea did not attend any Mine Ban Treaty meetings in 2010 or the first half of 2011.
Papua New Guinea is not party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons. It is not believed to be mine-affected but parts of the country are contaminated by unexploded ordnance from World War II.
Cluster Munition Ban Policy
Policy
Papua New Guinea (PNG) has not acceded to the Convention on Cluster Munitions.
The status of accession is not known as PNG last commented on the matter in 2008.
PNG joined the Oslo Process in February 2008 and adopted the Convention on Cluster Munitions in Dublin on 30 May 2008. A government representative was present at the Signing Conference in Oslo in December 2008 but indicated that he did not have the correct paperwork ready to sign the convention at the time.[1]
PNG has not attended any meetings of the Convention on Cluster Munitions since 2008.
It has, however, 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.”[2]
PNG is party to the Mine Ban Treaty. It has not joined the Convention on Conventional Weapons.
PNG is not known to have ever used, produced, transferred, or stockpiled cluster munitions.
[1] Interview with Yu Minibi, Foreign Service Officer, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, in Oslo, 3 December 2008.
[2] “Situation of human rights in the Syrian Arab Republic,” UNGA Resolution A/RES/68/182, 18 December 2013.. PNG voted in favor of a similar resolution on 15 May 2013.