Micronesia
Cluster Munition Ban Policy
Summary
Non-signatory Micronesia has shown interest in the Convention on Cluster Munitions, but has not taken any steps to join it. Micronesia has never attended a meeting of the convention, but voted in favor of a key United Nations (UN) resolution promoting the convention in December 2021.
Micronesia is not known to have ever used, produced, transferred, or stockpiled cluster munitions.
Policy
The Federated States of Micronesia has not acceded to the Convention on Cluster Munitions.
Micronesia has shown interest in the convention, but has not taken any steps to accede to it.[1] In February 2018, Micronesia attended a regional conference which issued a declaration affirming “the clear moral and humanitarian rationale for joining” the convention.[2]
Micronesia did not participate in the Oslo Process that created the Convention on Cluster Munitions, and has never attended a meeting of the convention.
In December 2021, Micronesia voted in favor of a key United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) resolution urging states outside the Convention on Cluster Munitions to “join as soon as possible.”[3] It has voted in favor of the annual UNGA resolution promoting the convention since it was first introduced in 2015.
Micronesia has also voted in favor of UNGA resolutions expressing outrage at the use of cluster munitions in Syria.[4]
Use, production, transfer, and stockpiling
Micronesia is not known to have ever used, produced, or stockpiled cluster munitions.
[1] In the past, government officials have expressed various views on the matter of Micronesia acceding to the convention. In 2011, a senior Department of Foreign Affairs official told the Monitor of Micronesia’s “intention to be a party” to the convention, which he said would be submitted to Congress for approval along with a similar proposal to join the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty. Letter from Lorin S. Robert, Secretary, Department of Foreign Affairs, to Mark Hiznay, Human Rights Watch (HRW), 29 April 2011. In 2009, a representative of Micronesia cited the country’s capacity constraints in meeting its treaty obligations and added that Micronesia’s Compact of Free Association with the United States (US) requires that it clears any strategic defense decisions with the US before joining international treaties. ICBL-CMC meeting with Martin Zvachula, Second Secretary, Permanent Mission of Micronesia to the UN in New York, 19 October 2009. Notes by the ICBL-CMC.
[2] The declaration states that during the meeting “some states not yet party to the Convention undertook to positively consider membership of it.” Auckland Declaration on Conventional Weapons Treaties, Pacific Conference on Conventional Weapons Treaties, Auckland, 12–14 February 2018.
[3] “Implementation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions,” UNGA Resolution 76/47, 6 December 2021.
[4] “Situation of human rights in the Syrian Arab Republic,” UNGA Resolution 75/193, 24 December 2021. Micronesia voted in favor of similar UNGA resolutions from 2013–2020.