Summary: State Party Mauritius acceded to the convention on 1 October 2015 and enacted implementing legislation for the convention in June 2016. Mauritius has participated in several meetings of the convention, most recently in September 2017. It voted in favor of a United Nations (UN) resolution on the convention in December 2018. Mauritius provided its initial transparency report for the convention in April 2017, which confirms it has never produced cluster munitions and possesses no stocks, including for research and training.

Policy

The Republic of Mauritius acceded to the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 1 October 2015, and the convention entered into force for the country on 1 April 2016.

Mauritius’ implementing legislation for the convention also covers its implementation of the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty. [1] The Anti-Personnel Mines and Cluster Munitions (Prohibition) Act 2016 prohibits cluster munitions and includes penal sanctions of up to 15-years’ imprisonment.

Mauritius submitted its initial Article 7 transparency report for the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 30 April 2017. [2] It provided an updated report on 30 April 2019, indicating no changes from its initial report.

Mauritius participated in one meeting of the Oslo Process that created the Convention on Cluster Munitions, a regional conference held in Kampala, Uganda in September 2008. [3]

Mauritius did not sign the convention at the Signing Conference in Oslo, Norway in December 2008, but acceded in 2015 after government officials expressed support for the convention. [4]

Mauritius has participated in several meetings of the convention, most recently in September 2017. [5]

Mauritius voted in favor of a UN General Assembly (UNGA) resolution in December 2018, which urges states outside the Convention on Cluster Munitions to “join as soon as possible.” [6] It has voted in favor of the annual UNGA resolution promoting the convention since it was first introduced in 2015.

Mauritius is a State Party to the Mine Ban Treaty. It is also party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons.

Interpretive issues

According to the Anti-Personnel Mines and Cluster Munitions (Prohibition) Act 2016, “no person shall in any manner assist, encourage or induce any other person to engage in any [of the prohibited acts].” [7] The law contains a lengthy extra-territoriality provision that establishes jurisdiction over, inter alia, people or companies from Mauritius who violate the law beyond the nation’s borders and others who affect people or businesses within Mauritius through violations outside of the country. [8]

Mauritius has not elaborated its views on the prohibition on transit and foreign stockpiling of cluster munitions or the prohibition on investing in cluster munition production.

Use, production, transfer, and stockpiling

Mauritius has reported that it never produced cluster munitions and possesses no stocks, including for research or training. [9] Mauritius has never used or transferred cluster munitions. [10]

Policy

The Republic of Mauritius signed and ratified the Mine Ban Treaty on 3 December 1997, becoming a State Party on 1 March 1999. Legislation to enforce the antipersonnel mine prohibition domestically was adopted in April 2001.[1] The legislation provides for a total prohibition of the use, development, production, acquisition, stockpiling, retention, and transfer of antipersonnel mines. It makes violators liable to penal servitude and other unspecified penalties imposed by the court, and it applies to violations committed in Mauritius or, in the case of a citizen of Mauritius, elsewhere.

Mauritius does not regularly attend meetings of the treaty, but did attend the Thirteenth Meeting of States Parties in Geneva in December 2013 and the Third Review Conference in Maputo in June 2014. Mauritius consistently submitted Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 reports through 2008, but since then has submitted just two reports, in 2012 and 2014.

Mauritius is party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons but not its Amended Protocol II on landmines or Protocol V on explosive remnants of war. Mauritius is party to the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

Production, transfer, stockpile destruction, and retention

Mauritius has never used or produced antipersonnel mines. Mauritius destroyed its stockpile of 93 antipersonnel mines of Indian origin in November 2003 and did not retain any mines for training purposes.[2]