Summary: State Party Nauru ratified the convention in February 2013 and provided its initial transparency report for the convention in March 2018. Although incomplete, the report appears to confirm that Nauru has never used, produced, transferred, or stockpiled cluster munitions.

Policy

The Republic of Nauru signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions in Oslo on 3 December 2008, ratified on 4 February 2013, and the convention entered into force for the country on 1 August 2013.

Nauru submitted its initial Article 7 transparency report for the convention on 20 March 2018. [1] According to the report, the question of whether national implementation measures are needed is “under review,” and promises an update in the next report. Nauru also requested international support for “legal and other implementation measures” undertaken for the convention.

Nauru first expressed its support for a ban on cluster munitions during the Oslo Process, when it participated in the Wellington Conference on Cluster Munitions in February 2008 and endorsed the Wellington Declaration agreeing to the conclusion of a legally-binding instrument. [2] Nauru did not attend the subsequent Dublin negotiations of the convention but signed the convention in Oslo in December 2008.

Nauru has never participated in a meeting of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, but it has attended regional meetings on unexploded ordnance in the Pacific, most recently in February 2018.

Nauru has been absent from the vote on United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) resolutions supporting implementation and universalization of the convention. It has voted in favor of UNGA resolutions condemning the use of cluster munitions in Syria, most recently in December 2018. [3]

Nauru 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 foreign stockpiling of cluster munitions, the prohibition on investment in production of cluster munitions, and the retention of cluster munitions for training and development purposes.

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

Use, production, transfer, and stockpiling

In March 2018, Nauru reported that it has not produced cluster munitions and possesses no stocks. [4] The report also confirmed that Nauru is not contaminated by cluster munition remnants.