CCW GROUP OF EXPERTS OF AMENDED PROTOCOL II TO MEET AND DISCUSS IMPROVISED EXPLOSIVE DEVICES

A Group of Experts established by the States Parties to Protocol II on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Mines, Booby-traps and Other Devices as amended on 3 May 1996 to the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW) will convene on 20 and 21 April 2009 at the Palais des Nations in Geneva.
The Group of Experts - an informal implementation mechanism established by the Tenth Annual Conference of the High Contracting Parties to Amended Protocol II (Geneva, 12 November 2008) - shall review the operation and status of the Protocol, consider matters arising from reports by High Contracting Parties according to Article 13 (4) of the Protocol, as well as development of technologies to protect civilians against indiscriminate effects of mines. The Group shall also address the issue of improvised explosive devices.

Background

Last year marked the Tenth Anniversary of the entry into force of Amended Protocol II. This occasion provided the States Parties with an opportunity to review the status and operation of the Protocol with a view to enhance the efficiency and strengthen the effective implementation of the Protocol. Against this background, in an effort to revitalize the work under APII and to further enhance its implementation, there was interest among the States parties to make the APII more results-oriented. Based on the positive experience from the implementation of CCW Protocol V, which had recently established its own implementation machinery, and the activities under Amended Protocol II in the early years of its existence when a Group of Experts met during the annual conferences to discuss a number of substantive issues, it was agreed to reestablish the APII Group of Experts which would focus on matters of particular interest, such as the use of improvised explosive devices, or the implementation of the Protocol at national level and the adoption of appropriate national measures and legislation. Furthermore it was decided that the meetings of the Group will be informal and organized on the model of and in conjunction with the annual meetings of experts of the States Parties to CCW Protocol V. Likewise, the CCW APII Group of Experts would report on its findings to the annual conferences of the States Parties to APII.

The work of the Group of Experts shall be considered by the Eleventh Annual Conference, which will be held in Geneva on 11 November 2009.

For more information pertaining to the CCW and the activities of the Group of Experts, consult the official website of the CCW as part of the website of the United Nations Office at Geneva (UNOG) at: http://www.unog.ch/ccw.


For use of information media; not an official record

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