LM Report 2004

Fiji

Key developments since 1999: Fiji became a State Party on 1 March 1999.

The Republic of the Fiji Islands signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 3 December 1997, ratified on 10 June 1998, and the treaty entered into force on 1 March 1999. The government has submitted two Article 7 reports, but neither has provided any detail on national implementation measures.^[1] Fiji has not participated in any annual meetings of States Parties, but an NGO representative was present at the Fifth Meeting of States Parties in September 2003. As it has done in previous years, Fiji voted in support of the pro-ban UN General Assembly Resolution 58/53 on 8 December 2003.

Fiji declared no stockpile of antipersonnel mines, including for training, in its initial Article 7 report, and it is not believed to have ever produced, transferred, or used the weapon. Fiji is not mine-affected, but the last known Fijian mine casualties occurred in September 1999 in south Lebanon, when three Fijian peacekeepers were slightly injured after a landmine exploded beneath their UN armored personnel carrier.^[2]

[1] See Article 7 reports submitted 21 August 2002 (for the period 2000-2001) and 12 November 1999 (for the period 1998-1999).
[2] "3 Lebanon peacekeepers hurt," Associated Press (Tyre, Lebanon), 25 September 1999.