Fiji
Cluster Munition Ban Policy
Summary: State Party Fiji ratified the convention on 28 May 2010. It has participated in a meeting of the convention and voted in favor of a key United Nations (UN) resolution on the convention in December 2017. Fiji reports that it has not used, produced, or stockpiled cluster munitions.
Policy
The Republic of Fiji signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 3 December 2008, ratified on 28 May 2010, and the convention entered into force for the country on 1 November 2010.
Fiji has not undertaken any national implementation legislation or other measures to enforce the convention’s provisions, indicating it may view existing laws as sufficient to ensure its compliance.[1]
On 3 April 2018, Fiji provided its initial Article 7 transparency report for the Convention on Cluster Munitions, covering the period from 28 May 2011 to 30 April 2018.[2]
Fiji joined the Oslo Process in February 2008 and adopted the Convention on Cluster Munitions at the end of negotiations in Dublin on 30 May 2008.[3]
Fiji has attended one meeting of the convention: the Second Meeting of States Parties in Beirut, Lebanon in September 2011.
In December 2017, Fiji voted in favor of a UN General Assembly (UNGA) resolution promoting implementation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions.[4] It voted in favor of previous UNGA resolutions on the convention in 2015 and 2016.
Fiji has yet to provide its views on certain important issues related to interpretation and implementation of the convention, such as the prohibition on transit, the prohibition on assistance during joint military operations with states not party that may use cluster munitions, the prohibition on investment in production of cluster munitions, and the prohibition on foreign stockpiling of cluster munitions. During the Dublin negotiations, Fiji supported the retention of cluster munitions for training purposes.[5]
Fiji is party to the Mine Ban Treaty. It is not party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons.
Use, production, transfer, and stockpiling
In its initial Article 7 report provided in April 2018, Fiji confirms that it has not produced and does not possess a stockpile of cluster munitions—including any for research and training—and is not contaminated by cluster munition remnants.[6] Previously, Fiji stated on several occasions that it did not use, produce, or stockpile cluster munitions.[7]
[1] Fiji did not report any national implementation measures in its initial transparency report. Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 7 Report, Form A, 3 April 2018.
[2] Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 7 Report, 3 April 2018. Initial report was due 30 April 2011.
[3] For more details on Fiji’s policy and practice see Human Rights Watch and Landmine Action, Banning Cluster Munitions: Government Policy and Practice (Ottawa: Mines Action Canada, May 2009), p. 73.
[4] “Implementation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions,” UNGA Resolution 72/54, 4 December 2017.
[5] Summary Record of the Committee of the Whole, First Session: 19 May 2008, Dublin Diplomatic Conference on Cluster Munitions, CCM/CW/SR/1, 18 June 2008.
[6] Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 7 Report, Forms B, D, and F, 3 April 2018.
[7] The Minister for Foreign Affairs Ratu Inoke Kubuabola stated this in May 2010. “Fiji’s administration approves Ratification of the ‘2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions,’” Pacific Islands News Association, 24 May 2010. See also, statement by Amb. Seremaia Tiunausori Cavuilati, Permanent Mission of Fiji to the European Union, Convention on Cluster Munitions Signing Conference, Oslo, 3 December 2008; and Dublin Diplomatic Conference on Cluster Munitions, 28 May 2008. Notes by the CMC.