Seychelles
Mine Ban Policy
The Republic of Seychelles signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 4 December 1997 and ratified it on 2 June 2000, becoming a State Party on 1 December 2000. Seychelles has never used, produced, exported, or imported antipersonnel mines, including for training purposes. Legislation to enforce the antipersonnel mine prohibition domestically was adopted on 8 April 2004. Seychelles submitted its second Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 report on 8 July 2005, covering January 2000 to December 2004, but has not submitted subsequent reports.
Seychelles did not attend any Mine Ban Treaty meetings in 2010 or the first half of 2011.
Seychelles is party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons and its Amended Protocol II on landmines but not Protocol V on explosive remnants of war.
Cluster Munition Ban Policy
Policy
The Republic of Seychelles signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 13 April 2010, ratified on 20 May 2010, and the convention entered into force for the country on 1 November 2010. [1]
After a review of existing legislation, Seychelles announced in 2013 that its existing implementation law for the Mine Ban Treaty would be amended to apply the provisions of the Convention on Cluster Munitions.[2]
Seychelles submitted its initial Article 7 transparency report for the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 30 April 2013.[3] As of 27 June 2014, it had not yet provided the updated annual due by 30 April 2014.
Seychelles participated in the Oslo Process that created the convention and advocated for a humanitarian rather than technical approach to tackling cluster munitions.[4]
Seychelles has continued to show interest in the Convention on Cluster Munitions. It participated in April 2013 intersessional meetings of the convention in Geneva, but not those held in April 2014. Seychelles attended a regional meeting on the convention held in Lomé, Togo in May 2013. Seychelles has not participated in any of the convention’s Meeting of States Parties, such as the Fourth Meeting of States Parties in Lusaka, Zambia in September 2013.
Seychelles has not yet provided its views on certain important issues related to interpretation and implementation of the convention, including the prohibition on transit, the prohibition on assistance during joint military operations with states not party that may use cluster munitions, the prohibition on foreign stockpiling of cluster munitions, and the prohibition on investment in cluster munition production.
Seychelles has voted in favor of recent UN General Assembly (UNGA) resolutions condemning the Syrian government’s use of cluster munitions, 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.”[5]
Seychelles is a State Party to the Mine Ban Treaty. It is also party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons.
Use, production, transfer, and stockpiling
In 2013, Seychelles stated that it has never used, produced, imported, stockpiled, or transferred cluster munitions, “nor does it have any intention to do so.”[6] It has declared that it has no cluster munitions, including for training or research purposes.[7]
[1] The National Assembly unanimously approved a motion approving ratification of the convention on 20 April 2010. Email from Clifford Andre, Member, Seychelles National Assembly, 29 May 2010.
[2] Statement of Seychelles, Lomé Regional Seminar on the Universalization of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, Lomé, Togo, 23 May 2013. Notes by Action on Armed Violence (AOAV).
[3] The reporting period is not specified.
[4] For more information on Seychelles’ policy and practice regarding cluster munitions through mid-2010, see ICBL, Cluster Munition Monitor 2010 (Ottawa: Mines Action Canada, October 2010), p. 102.
[5] “Situation of human rights in the Syrian Arab Republic,” UNGA Resolution A/RES/68/182, 18 December 2013. Seychelles voted in favor of a similar resolution on 15 May 2013.
[6] Statement of Seychelles, Lomé Regional Seminar on the Universalization of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, Lomé, Togo, 22 May 2013. Notes by AOAV.
[7] Seychelles reported “NIL” cluster munitions under Form C on munitions retained for training or research purposes permitted under Article 3 of the convention. Convention on Cluster Munitions initial Article 7 Report, Form C, 30 April 2013.