Samoa’s ratification of the 2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions should spur other Pacific nations to come on board the ban. On 28 April 2010, Samoa deposited its instrument of ratification to the Convention on Cluster Munitions with the United Nations in New York.

Samoa actively participated in the Oslo Process to create the Convention on Cluster Munitions, stating on several occasions that it does not use, produce or stockpile cluster munitions. Samoa signed the Convention in December 2008 and has committed to put legislation in place to implement the Convention domestically.

Five Pacific Islands Forum members have signed the Convention (Australia, Cook Islands, Fiji, Nauru, and Palau), while two have now ratified: Samoa and New Zealand (22 December 2009).  Five other Pacific states participated in the Oslo Process, but have not yet signed the Convention: Marshall Islands, Niue, Papua New Guinea, Tonga and Vanuatu.

Samoa’s ratification came days after the launch of a 100-day count down to 1 August 2010, when the Convention on Cluster Munitions is due to become binding international law through a procedure known as ‘entry into force.’  A total of 106 countries have signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions, of which 31 signatories have ratified.

As part of the count down, this week the ANZCMC has written to Cambodian Ambassador Chum Sounry in Canberra, urging Cambodia to join the ban. The ANZCMC has also requested meetings during the count down to discuss the cluster munition ban with diplomatic representatives of five non-signatory states represented in New Zealand’s capital city:  Argentina, Brazil, Papua New Guinea, Thailand, Vietnam.

After 1 August 2010, the next major event in the movement to ban cluster munitions will be the First Meeting of States Parties to the Convention on Cluster Munitions, which is scheduled to take place in Vientiane, Lao PDR from 8-11 November 2010. Laos remains heavily contaminated by cluster munitions used during the Vietnam War more than thirty years ago.

• Download ANZCMC press release (PDF)

For more information on Samoa and cluster munitions, see:
•    Banning Cluster Munitions Samoa entry
•    Cluster Munition Coalition statement on Samoa
•    Hi-res image of Samoan Ambassador Tuala Falani Chan Tung signs the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 3 December 2008 (c) Gunnar Mjaugedal/catchlight.no

For more information on the Countdown action to universalize the Convention on Cluster Munitions, see:
•    ANZCMC letters to Cambodia
•    ANZCMC requests to Argentina, Brazil, Papua New Guinea, Thailand, Vietnam
•    Cluster Munition Coalition statement on 100-Day Countdown 

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