STATES PARTIES TO CCW APPEAL FOR WIDER UNIVERSALITY OF CONVENTION AND ANNEXED PROTOCOLS

The Meeting of the States Parties to the Convention on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Certain Conventional Weapons Which May Be Deemed to Be Excessively Injurious or to Have Indiscriminate Effects (CCW), chaired by Ambassador Gordan Markotić of Croatia, concluded on 25 November 2005 at the Palais des Nations, Geneva, with a decision to hold the Third Review Conference in 2006.

At its opening, on 24 November 2005, the Meeting received a message from the Secretary-General of the United Nations, who was encouraged by the progress being made in the consideration of Mines Other Than Anti-Personnel Mines (MOTAPM) thus urged States Parties to follow the example of Protocol V on Explosive Remnants of War (ERW) in order to further strengthen the Convention. The Secretary-General was pleased to note that the States Parties are examining ways to strengthen the implementation of international humanitarian law. Finally, he also hoped that States Parties would soon reach a common understanding on an effective, flexible and transparent compliance mechanism for the Convention and all its Protocols.

The Meeting welcomed the report of the Group of Governmental Experts, which was established by the Second Review Conference in 2001, and mandated by the 2004 Meeting of the States Parties to continue its work in 2005 on the issues of ERW, MOTAPM, and on possible options to promote compliance with the Convention and its annexed Protocols as well as on the preparation for the Third Review Conference.

The States Parties confirmed their commitment to take further action with the aim of strengthening the Convention and agreeing on follow-up work for its Group of Governmental Experts in 2006. Therefore, the States Parties decided on new mandates for the two working groups on ERW and MOTAPM, respectively.


On the issue of ERW, the Meeting decided that the Group of Governmental Experts would continue to consider, including through participation of legal experts, the implementation of existing principles of International Humanitarian Law and to further study, on an open-ended basis, with particular emphasis on meetings of military and technical experts, possible preventive measures aimed at improving the design of certain specific types of munitions, including sub-munitions, with a view to minimising the humanitarian risk of these munitions becoming explosive remnants of war. Exchange of information, assistance and co-operation would be part of this work. The Group will report on the work done to the Third Review Conference.

On the issue of MOTAPM, the Meeting decided that the Group would continue to consider all proposals put forward since the establishment of the Group with the aim of elaborating appropriate recommendations for submission to the Third Review Conference. Meetings of military experts shall also be conducted to provide advice on these activities

The Meeting decided that the Third Review Conference shall be held in Geneva from 7 to 17 November 2006 and that all necessary preparations for the Review Conference would be undertaken within the framework of the existing Group of Governmental Experts. The States Parties appointed Ambassador François Rivasseau of France as President-designate of the Third Review Conference, as well as Ambassador Edvardas Borisovas of Lithuania as the Coordinator on Explosive Remnants of War and a representative of the Group of the Non Aligned Movement as the Coordinator on Mines Other Than Anti Personnel Mines. The President-designate is tasked with overseeing the follow-up work arising from this Meeting, and his mandate would comprise undertaking consultations on the issue of possible options to promote compliance with the Convention and its annexed Protocols as well as on the possibility to establish a sponsorship programme under the Convention and on the modalities of such a programme. Moreover, the States Parties decided that the Group of Governmental Experts would hold three sessions in 2006: 6-10 March, 19-23 June, and 28 August - 6 September. The Eighth Annual Conference of the States Parties to Amended Protocol II would be held on 6 November 2006.

The States Parties issued an appeal to all States that had not yet done so to take all measures to accede to the Convention and its annexed Protocols as soon as possible. The appeal for universality of the Convention and its Protocols in its entirety is the first initiative ever to be carried out by the States Parties in an effort to promote wider adherence to the instrument. In a bid to enhance the appeal for universalization, the Meeting also encouraged States Parties to organize national and regional workshops, conferences or other events aimed at promoting the Convention and its Protocols.

Background

The Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW) is also known as the Inhumane Weapons Convention. The structure of the CCW – a chapeau Convention and annexed Protocols – was adopted in this manner to ensure future flexibility. The purpose of the Convention is to ban or restrict the use of various types of weapons that are considered to cause unnecessary or unjustifiable suffering or to have other humanitarian consequences. The CCW with its three annexed protocols were adopted on 10 October 1980 and opened for signature for one year from 10 April 1981. A total of 51 States signed the Convention, which entered into force on 2 December 1983. Currently 100 States are party to the Convention with a further 6 having signed but not yet ratified. The initial three protocols are Protocol I on Non-Detectable Fragments (which has 98 States parties), Protocol II on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Mines, Booby Traps and Other Devices (87 States parties) and Protocol III on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Incendiary Weapons (93 States parties). Subsequently, Protocol IV on Blinding Laser Weapons entered into force on 30 July 1998 (which now has 81 States parties), and Protocol II, as amended on 3 May 1996, entered into force on 3 December 1998 (85 States parties).

The most recent of the Protocols annexed to the Convention, Protocol V on Explosive Remnants of War was adopted on 28 November 2003 by the Meeting of the States Parties to the Convention. The Protocol is intended to eradicate the daily threat that such legacies of wars pose to populations in need for development and to humanitarian aid workers operating in the field to help them. Since its adoption, 13 States have thus far notified the UN Secretary-General, as depositary of the Convention, of their consent to be bound by Protocol V.

Moreover, at the Second Review Conference in 2001, the States Parties agreed to expand the scope of the Convention to also cover internal armed conflicts as well as armed conflicts of an international nature. This amendment to the Convention has already entered into force on 18 May 2004 and 44 States Parties have now ratified the amendment and have submitted their instruments of ratification to the Depositary.

For use of the information media; not an official record

DC05045E