President submits Maldives’ Participation in Four Treaties for Consideration of the People's Majlis

Following recommendations from the Cabinet of Ministers, President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih has submitted the following four papers regarding participation to the People's Majlis.

1. UN Arms Trade Treaty
2. UN Convention on Cluster Munitions
3. Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons
4. Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on a Communications Procedure - OPCRC

The President made the decision to submit these treaties to the Majlis following today’s meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers.

The scope of the UN Arms Trade Treaty covers enhancing the regulation of the international trade of conventional arms, maintain international standards, and to control illegal arms trade. The treaty promotes regional and international stability and peace through trade transparency and accountability among signatory states. Cabinet Ministers emphasized the significance of signing such a treaty given the role of the Maldives in promoting peace and stability in the international arena.

The United Nations Convention on Cluster Munitions prohibits all use, stockpiling, production and transfer of Cluster Munitions. Signatory nations commit to a legally binding international instrument that prohibits the use and stockpiling of cluster munitions that cause unacceptable harm to civilians and secure adequate provision of care and rehabilitation to survivors and clearance of contaminated areas. Ministers noted that the Maldives at the UN had voted to pass the UN Convention on Cluster Munitions. Cabinet Ministers recommended the Maldives to be a signatory nation to the treaty being a nation that does not possess cluster munitions, is party to the Non-Proliferation Treaty and has advocated for disarmament and non-proliferation in the international arena. The convention strongly prohibits any direct or indirect form of supply of cluster munitions.

The scope of the Treaty on Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons - TPNW include undertakings not to develop, test, produce, acquire, possess, stockpile, use or threaten to use nuclear weapons. The Treaty also prohibits the deployment of nuclear weapons on national territory and the provision of assistance to any State in the conduct of prohibited activities. State parties will be obliged to prevent and suppress any activity prohibited under the TPNW undertaken by persons or on territory under its jurisdiction or control.

Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on a communications procedure – OPCRC will facilitate funding and technical expertise for efforts to protect of the rights of the child through UN agencies and affiliated programmes. The OPCRC will allow individual children to submit complaints regarding specific violations of their rights under the Convention and its first two optional protocols. Ministers recommended to sign the treaty as the Maldives is a member state of the CRC, making participation in this treaty significant in the international arena, and by sighting the numerous efforts undertaken by the administration on both the national and international level to further protect human rights in the Maldives.