Policy

Tuvalu acceded to the Mine Ban Treaty on 13 September 2011.

In early August 2011, the Mine Ban Treaty’s Implementation Support Unit (ISU) stated that Tuvalu could join the Mine Ban Treaty “in coming months.”[1] The announcement came after a three-day visit to Tuvalu by Prince Mired Raad Zeid Al-Hussein of Jordan, the Mine Ban Treaty’s Special Envoy on Universalization. Prince Mired met with Prime Minister Willy Telavi and other government representatives to discuss Tuvalu’s accession to the Mine Ban Treaty.[2]

In June 2011, Tuvalu participated in the intersessional Standing Committee meetings in Geneva, its first-ever participation in a meeting of the Mine Ban Treaty. A Ministry of Foreign Affairs official informed States Parties, “Tuvalu is here to listen and hopefully become a member in the near future” and expressed concern at the social, health, and economic problems caused by mines. The official said that, “a report will be made possible to our cabinet, once our position is finalized this will be then conveyed to your good office at the earliest.”[3] Tuvalu has not since participated in a meeting of the treaty. It was invited to, but did not attend, the Third Review Conference in Maputo in June 2014, and more recently the Seventeenth Meeting of States Parties in Geneva in November 2018.

Tuvalu has yet to submit its initial Article 7 transparency report, which was due on 28 August 2012.

Tuvalu is not party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons, nor is it party to the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

Use, production, transfer, and stockpile

Tuvalu has stated several times that it does not use, produce, import, or stockpile antipersonnel mines.[4]