GROUP OF EXPERTS ON CONVENTIONAL WEAPONS CONVENTION CONCLUDES FOURTEENTH SESSION

The Fourteenth Session of the Group of Governmental Experts of the States Parties to the 1980 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) concluded on Friday, 23 June at the Palais des Nations in Geneva.

The Group was chaired by Ambassador François Rivasseau of France in his capacity as President-designate of the Third Review Conference to be held from 7 to 17 November 2006. Two Coordinators also chaired meetings of the respective working groups: Ambassador Edvardas Borisovas of Lithuania on Explosive Remnants of War (ERW) and Ambassador Carlos Antonio da Rocha Paranhos of Brazil on Mines Other Than Anti- Personnel Mines (MOTAPM).

The working group on ERW discussed the implementation of existing principles of International Humanitarian Law and possible preventive measures aimed at improving the design of certain specific types of munitions, including sub-munitions, with a view to minimizing the humanitarian risk of these munitions becoming explosive remnants of war. It also held a meeting of military and technical experts, chaired by Ms. Vera Bohle of the Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining (GICHD). Meanwhile, the working group on MOTAPM discussed proposals on MOTAPM put forward since the establishment of the GGE. It also held a meeting of military experts, chaired by Brigadier-General Gerson Menandro Garcia de Freitas of Brazil.

The Group considered the status of CCW Protocol V on ERW, the most recent of the Protocols annexed to the Convention adopted on 28 November 2003. The Protocol is intended to eradicate the daily threat that such legacies of wars as unexploded ordnance and abandoned explosive ordnance pose to populations in need for development and to humanitarian aid workers operating in the field to help them. Protocol V will enter into force on 12 November 2006. The Group welcomed the 23 States which had notified the Secretary-General of the United Nations, as depositary of the Convention, of their consent to be bound by the Protocol: Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, El Salvador, Finland, Germany, Holy See, India, Liberia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Nicaragua, Norway, Sierra Leone, Slovakia, Sweden, Switzerland, Tajikistan and Ukraine.

The Group also continued to discuss matters related to the promotion of the universalization of the Convention and its Protocols, 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.

Finally, the Group of Governmental Experts considered the preparation for the Third Review Conference, chaired by the President-designate. The preparations has progressed successfully during the past two sessions of the Group, with agreement on a number of procedural matters and a substantive issue, to be recommended for adoption by the Third Review Conference, notably: (1) the Provisional Agenda of the Third Review Conference; (2) the Draft Rules of Procedure of the Third Review Conference; (3) the appointment of the Provisional Secretary-General of the Third Review Conference; (4) the Provisional Agenda of Main Committee I; (5) the Provisional Agenda of Main Committee II; (6) the Provisional Programme of Work for the Third Review Conference; and (7) a draft Plan of Action to Promote Universality of the CCW.

The Group will hold its Fifteenth Session from 28 August to 6 September 2006.