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Seychelles
Cluster Munition Ban Policy
Commitment to the Convention on Cluster Munitions
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Convention on Cluster Munitions status |
State Party as of 1 November 2010 |
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Participation in Convention on Cluster Munitions meetings |
Attended a global conference in Santiago in June 2010 and a regional meeting in Pretoria in March 2010 |
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Key developments |
Signed on 13 April 2010 and ratified on 20 May 2010 |
Policy
The Republic of Seychelles signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 13 April 2010.[1] After its approval by the Cabinet of Ministers, a motion on the convention was presented for ratification by the National Assembly on 20 April 2010, where it was unanimously approved.[2] The ratification instrument was officially deposited with the UN in New York on 20 May 2010.[3] The convention will enter into force for Seychelles on 1 November 2010.
According to a member of the National Assembly, following ratification, the government of Seychelles will draft appropriate laws to implement the convention domestically.[4]
Seychelles has shown strong interest in the convention. It participated in the International Conference on the Convention on Cluster Munitions in June 2010 in Santiago, Chile and the Africa Regional Conference on the Universalization and Implementation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions in Pretoria, South Africa in March 2010. In Pretoria, Seychelles apologized for its delay in signing and declared its intention to both sign and ratify before May 2010.[5]
At the November 2009 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Trinidad and Tobago, Seychelles associated itself with the Port of Spain Declaration on Cluster Munitions, in support of the universalization and implementation of the convention.[6]
Seychelles joined the Oslo Process that created the convention at the Vienna Conference on Cluster Munitions in December 2007, where it made a statement calling for a complete ban on cluster munitions, with the widest possible definition, based on the humanitarian objectives underpinning the Oslo Process rather than the perspectives of the users and producers.[7] Seychelles did not attend the Wellington Conference on Cluster Munitions in February 2008, but endorsed the Wellington Declaration on 12 May 2008.[8] Seychelles attended the Livingstone Conference on Cluster Munitions in March–April 2008 and endorsed the Livingstone Declaration calling for a comprehensive convention with an immediate and total prohibition on cluster munitions.[9]
Seychelles participated in the formal negotiations in Dublin in May 2008, where it continued to advocate for a humanitarian rather than technical approach, calling for no exclusions for certain cluster munitions and no transition period.[10] Seychelles joined in the consensus adoption of the convention text. Seychelles subsequently attended the September 2008 Kampala Conference on the Convention on Cluster Munitions, where it endorsed the Kampala Action Plan on the convention.[11]
Seychelles has not yet made known 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 production of cluster munitions.
Seychelles is party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons, but has not ratified Protocol V on explosive remnants of war.
Seychelles is not known to have used, produced, transferred, or stockpiled cluster munitions.
[1] Amb. Ronald Jean Jumeau, Permanent Mission of Seychelles to the UN in New York, signed the convention. CMC, “Cluster Munition Coalition Newsletter,” Issue 21, April 2010, www.stopclustermunitions.org.
[2] Email from Clifford Andre, Member, Seychelles National Assembly, 29 May 2010.
[3] CMC, “Seychelles Ratifies International Treaty Banning Cluster Bombs,” Press release, 24 May 2010, London, www.stopclustermunitions.org.
[4] Email from Clifford Andre, Seychelles National Assembly, 29 May 2010.
[5] Statement of Seychelles, Africa Regional Conference on the Universalization and Implementation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, Pretoria, 25 March 2010. Notes by AOAV.
[6] “Port of Spain Declaration on Cluster Munitions,” Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, Trinidad and Tobago, 27–29 November 2009, centralcontent.fco.gov.uk.
[7] Statement of Seychelles, Vienna Conference on Cluster Munitions, 6 December 2007. Notes by the CMC/WILPF.
[8] Endorsement of the declaration indicated a state’s intention to participate in the formal negotiations in May on the basis of the draft convention text emerging from Wellington.
[9] CMC, “Report on the Livingstone Conference on Cluster Munitions, 31 March and 1 April 2008,” www.stopclustermunitions.org.
[10] Statement of Seychelles, Committee of the Whole on Article 2, Dublin Diplomatic Conference, 19 May 2008; and Statement of Seychelles, Committee of the Whole, Dublin Diplomatic Conference, 23 May 2008. Notes by Landmine Action.
[11] CMC, “Report on the Kampala Conference on the Convention on Cluster Munitions,” 30 September 2008.
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