Madagascar
Cluster Munition Ban Policy
Summary
Madagascar ratified the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 20 May 2017, and has participated in several of the convention’s meetings. It voted in favor of a key United Nations (UN) resolution promoting the convention in December 2021. Madagascar has condemned new use of cluster munitions and elaborated its views on several important issues related to the interpretation and implementation of the convention.
Madagascar states that it has never used, produced, transferred, or stockpiled cluster munitions. It must provide an Article 7 transparency report for the convention to formally confirm its cluster munition-free status.
Policy
The Republic of Madagascar signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 3 December 2008 and ratified it on 20 May 2017. The convention entered into force for the country on 1 November 2017.
Madagascar has not indicated whether it will enact specific implementing legislation to enforce the convention’s provisions.[1]
As of July 2022, Madagascar had not submitted its initial Article 7 transparency report for the convention, originally due by 30 April 2018.[2]
Madagascar participated in the Oslo Process that created the Convention on Cluster Munitions and advocated for a strong and comprehensive convention text.[3]
Madagascar has participated in several meetings of the convention, most recently the Second Review Conference held in November 2020 and September 2021, and the intersessional meetings held in May 2022.[4]
In December 2021, Madagascar voted in favor of a United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) resolution promoting implementation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, which urged States Parties to provide “complete and timely information…to promote transparency and compliance with the convention.”[5]
Madagascar has condemned use of cluster munitions “by any actor under any circumstances” on several occasions.[6]
Madagascar has elaborated its views on several important issues relating to the interpretation and implementation of the convention. It has stated that any investment in cluster munitions is prohibited.[7] Madagascar says that it would not allow any transit or foreign stockpiling of cluster munitions on its territory.[8] In regard to the issue of “interoperability,” Madagascar has stated that it would refuse to provide assistance in military operations with states not party to the convention who might use cluster munitions as “assistance to prohibited acts during joint military operations with non-State Parties is not permitted by the Convention.”[9]
Madagascar is a State Party to the Mine Ban Treaty. It is also party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW).
Use, production, transfer, and stockpiling
Madagascar has stated on several occasions that it has never used, produced, transferred, or stockpiled cluster munitions.[10] It must submit an initial Article 7 transparency report for the convention to formally confirm its cluster munition-free status.
[1] Madagascar’s parliament enacted ratification legislation for the convention on 8 June 2015. National Assembly, “Loi n.2015-012 autorisant la ratification de la Convention de Dublin (IRLANDE) sur les armes à sous-munitions” (“Law No.2015-012 authorizing the ratification of the Dublin Convention (IRELAND) on cluster munitions”), 12 May 2015; and National Assembly, “Textes adoptés” (“Texts adopted”), undated.
[2] Reports should be emailed to the UN Secretary-General via the UN Office for Disarmament Affairs at: ccm@un.org. For more information, see: www.un.org/disarmament/convention-on-cluster-munitions/transparency-measures.
[3] For details on Madagascar’s cluster munition policy and practice up to early 2009, see Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Landmine Action, Banning Cluster Munitions: Government Policy and Practice (Ottawa: Mines Action Canada, May 2009), p. 114.
[4] Prior to 2020, Madagascar last attended a meeting of the convention in September 2017, when it participated in the Seventh Meeting of States Parties in Geneva. It also attended the First Review Conference in Dubrovnik, Croatia, in September 2015 and intersessional meetings in Geneva in 2011–2015, as well as regional workshops on the convention.
[5] “Implementation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions,” UNGA Resolution 76/47, 6 December 2021. Madagascar voted in favor of the annual UNGA resolution in 2015–2019, but abstained in 2020.
[6] Statement of Madagascar, Convention on Cluster Munitions intersessional meetings, Geneva, 23 June 2015; and statement of Madagascar, Convention on Cluster Munitions Seventh Meeting of States Parties, Geneva, 4 September 2017.
[7] Statement of Madagascar, UNGA First Committee on Disarmament and International Security, New York, 29 October 2018; statement of Madagascar, Convention on Cluster Munitions First Meeting of States Parties, Vientiane, 10 November 2010. Notes by the Cluster Munition Coalition (CMC); and letter from Amb. Rajemison Rakotomaharo, Permanent Mission of Madagascar to the UN in Geneva, 2 April 2010.
[8] Statement of Madagascar, Convention on Cluster Munitions First Meeting of States Parties, Vientiane, 10 November 2010. Notes by the CMC; statement by Gen. Marcel Ranjeva, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Convention on Cluster Munitions Signing Conference, Oslo, 4 December 2008; and letter from Amb. Rakotomaharo, Permanent Mission of Madagascar to the UN in Geneva, 2 April 2010.
[9] Statement of Madagascar, Convention on Cluster Munitions First Meeting of States Parties, Vientiane, 10 November 2010. Notes by the CMC; letter from Amb. Rakotomaharo, Permanent Mission of Madagascar to the UN in Geneva, 2 April 2010; and statement by Gen. Ranjeva, Convention on Cluster Munitions Signing Conference, Oslo, 4 December 2008.
[10] Statement of Madagascar, Lomé Regional Seminar on the Universalization of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, Lomé, 22 May 2013. Notes by Action on Armed Violence (AOAV); statement of Madagascar, Convention on Cluster Munitions First Meeting of States Parties, Vientiane, 10 November 2010. Notes by the CMC; letter from Amb. Rakotomaharo, Permanent Mission of Madagascar to the UN in Geneva, 2 April 2010; and statement by Gen. Ranjeva, Convention on Cluster Munitions Signing Conference, Oslo, 4 December 2008.
Mine Ban Policy
Policy
The Republic of Madagascar signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 4 December 1997 and ratified it on 16 September 1999, becoming a State Party on 1 March 2000. Madagascar has not enacted new legislation specifically to implement the Mine Ban Treaty.
Madagascar’s last attendance at a meeting of the treaty was at the Thirteenth Meeting of States Parties in Geneva in December 2013. Madagascar did not attend the Third Review Conference in Maputo in June 2014, nor has it attended any subsequent meetings. Madagascar initially consistently submitted annual updated Article 7 transparency reports, but has not done so since 2011.
Madagascar is party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons and its Amended Protocol II on landmines and Protocol V on explosive remnants of war. Madagascar is also party to the Convention on Cluster Munitions.
Madagascar has never used, produced, or exported antipersonnel mines, and it does not have a stockpile, despite some indications that it may have had a stockpile of mines prior to becoming a State Party.