On 4 December 1997, the then-Minister of Foreign Affairs, Vital Soksok,
signed the Mine Ban Treaty on behalf of the Republic of Vanuatu, but the country
remains one of just nine signatory countries that have still not ratified.
In June 2004, a representative from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs attended
intersessional Standing Committee meetings in Geneva, marking Vanuatu’s
first participation in a Mine Ban Treaty-related meeting. The official told
Landmine Monitor that the ratification document is currently before the
executive Council of Ministers and following approval, it will be adopted by the
national parliament, when a government is formed following elections scheduled
for 6 July 2004.[1] The
official subsequently made a statement to the Standing Committee on the General
Status and Operation of the Convention, stating the ratification should
“definitely” be completed by the opening of the Review Conference in
November 2004, and describing the delay as due to “the unstable nature of
Vanuatu’s domestic politics that has left the country without a president
or parliament.”[2]
Despite the ratification delay, Vanuatu voted in support of UN General
Assembly Resolution 58/53 on 8 December 2003. It previously voted in support of
the annual pro-ban resolution in 2000, but was absent during the vote in 1999,
2001, and 2002.
In March 2001, a government representative said that Vanuatu had no
stockpiled antipersonnel
mines.[3] The islands are not
believed to be mine-affected, but there are still major dumps of military
equipment and other explosive remnants of war left over from World War II. A
2003 report described the effects of this contamination as residual, with no
casualties reported in recent years and few indications of detrimental effects
on land use.[4]
[1] Interview with Marie-Antoinette Nirua,
Head, Europe/Middle East/Africa division, Department of Foreign Affairs of
Vanuatu, Geneva, 22 June 2004. [2]
Statement by Marie-Antoinette Nirua, Head, Europe/Middle East/Africa division,
Department of Foreign Affairs of Vanuatu, to the Standing Committee on the
General Status and Operation of the Convention, Geneva, 25 June
2004. [3] Interview with Paul Sami,
Head of Asia-Pacific Division, Department of Foreign Affairs of Vanuatu,
Wellington (New Zealand), 27 March
2001. [4] Landmine Action, Explosive
remnants of war: a global survey, by John Borrie, London, June 2003; Interview
with Paul Sami, Head of Asia-Pacific Division, Department of Foreign Affairs of
Vanuatu, Wellington (New Zealand), 27 March 2001, p. 35.