The Solomon Islands signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 4 December 1997 and ratified it on 26 January 1999, becoming a State Party on 1 July 1999. The Solomon Islands has never used, produced, exported, or imported antipersonnel mines, including for training purposes. It believes that existing legislation is sufficient to enforce the antipersonnel mine prohibition domestically. The Solomon Islands submitted its initial Article 7 transparency report on 11 February 2004, covering 1 July 1999 to 31 December 2004, but has not submitted subsequent annual reports.

The Solomon Islands is not party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons.

The Solomon Islands is contaminated by UXO from World War II.

Policy

The Solomon Islands has not yet acceded to the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

The status of accession is not known. Previously, in September 2011, an official confirmed that the government was actively working to join the convention.

The Solomon Islands did not participate in the Oslo Process. It attended the convention’s Meetings of States Parties in 2010 and 2011 as an observer, but did not make any statements.[1] The Solomon Islands also attended a regional workshop on explosive remnants of war (ERW) in the Pacific held in Brisbane, Australia in June 2013.[2]

The Solomon Islands voted in favor of UN General Assembly (UNGA) Resolution 68/182 on 18 December 2013, which expressed “outrage” at the Syrian government’s “continued widespread and systematic gross violations of human rights” including the use of cluster munitions.[3]

The Solomon Islands is party to the Mine Ban Treaty.

The Solomon Islands is not known to have ever used, produced, transferred, or stockpiled cluster munitions. In September 2011, a government representative informed the Monitor that the Solomon Islands are not affected by cluster munition remnants.[4]

The Solomon Islands are contaminated with unexploded ordnance (UXO) dating from World War II. In 2011, the United States (US) provided US$400,000 to the Golden West Humanitarian Foundation to train the Solomon Islands Police’s Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) section to EOD Level 2 and to conduct any necessary clearance in preparation for establishing the section’s headquarters on Guadalcanal.[1]

In 2012, the US supported the Golden West Humanitarian Foundation with $556,667 to continue providing Level 2 EOD training and technical oversight to the Royal Solomon Islands Police Force’s EOD team on Guadalcanal. Additionally, in 2012 the US Department of Defense Humanitarian Demining Research and Development Program began an operational field evaluation of the Badger armored excavator with the Golden West Humanitarian Foundation. The Badger provides access to EOD teams to locate and clear UXO and abandoned explosive ordnance (AXO) at Hells Point, where the contamination has endangered local populations and destroyed fishing grounds. The Badger cleared 305,000m² of dense jungle vegetation in difficult terrain and found 602 items of UXO and AXO.[2]

Japan contributed ¥5.1 million ($64,082) through the Japan Mine Action Service.

International contributions: 2012[3]