Summary

Niue acceded to the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 6 August 2020, and became a State Party on 1 February 2021. Niue enacted implementing legislation for the convention in March 2021.

Niue provided an initial Article 7 transparency report in December 2021, which confirmed that it has never produced cluster munitions and does not possess any stocks.

Policy

Niue acceded to the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 6 August 2020, and the convention entered into force for the country on 1 February 2021.

On 17 March 2021, Niue enacted specific national legislation to govern its implementation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions and the Mine Ban Treaty, and to enforce their provisions with penal and fiscal sanctions.[1]

The Anti-Personnel Mines and Cluster Munitions Prohibition Act applies to all prohibited acts committed in Niue. It also applies to acts committed outside of Niue by a person who is a Niuean national, or by a corporate body liable under the laws of Niue.

Under the legislation, no person may use, develop or produce, acquire, possess, retain, stockpile, or transfer cluster munitions. The law also prohibits a person from “in any way assist[ing] or encourag[ing] any other person to engage in conduct” that the Act proscribes. However, unlike the convention, it does not encompass “inducing” prohibited activities.[2] The law provides an exception for the minister responsible for administration of the Act to authorize cluster munitions to be “used, developed, produced, [or] otherwise acquired, possessed, retained, or transferred.”

Under the law, any person convicted of violating the prohibition on cluster munitions can be imprisoned for up to seven years or fined up to NZ500,000, or both.[3] A corporate body can also be fined up to $500,000, and individuals holding office at the company are subject to the penalties referred to above if they consented to the offense or acted negligently. The legislation also allows for penalties of up to one year in prison, or a fine, for persons who withhold information that the government requests in order to meet its reporting and compliance obligations under the convention.

Consistent with the Act’s broad scope, its prohibitions cover explosive bomblets as well as cluster munitions.

Niue provided a copy of the 2021 national law along with its initial Article 7 transparency report, which was submitted on 2 December 2021.[4]

During the Oslo Process that created the convention, Niue participated in the Wellington Conference on Cluster Munitions in February 2008, where it endorsed the Wellington Declaration, agreeing to the conclusion of a legally binding instrument.[5] However, Niue did not attend the subsequent Dublin negotiations in May 2008, or the convention’s Signing Conference in Oslo in December 2008.

Niue deposited its accession instrument to the convention with the United Nations (UN) in New York on 6 August 2020.[6]

Niue has never attended a meeting of the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

Niue has not provided its view on certain important issues related to the convention’s interpretation and implementation, including Article 21 on relations with states not party to the convention and the prohibitions on transit, foreign stockpiling, and investment in production.

Niue is a State Party to the Mine Ban Treaty. It is not party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW).

Use, production, transfer, and stockpiling

According to its initial Article 7 report, Niue has not produced, transferred, or stockpiled cluster munitions.[7] Niue has never used these weapons and has not been affected by them.