LES ÉTATS PARTIES AUX PROTOCOLES À LA CONVENTION DE 1980 SUR CERTAINES ARMES CLASSIQUES BÉNÉFICIENT DES NOUVELLES STRUCTURES DES RÉUNIONS D'EXPERTS QUI PROMEUVENT LA SYNERGIE ENTRE LE PROTOCOLE II AMENDÉ ET LE PROTOCOLE V (en anglais)

The cooperative interaction between experts of the States parties to CCW Protocol II on Prohibitions and Restrictions on the Use of Mines, Booby-Traps and Other Devices (as amended on 3 May 1996) and CCW Protocol V on Explosive Remnants of War has created a dynamic atmosphere which further strengthened the implementation of both treaty regimes under the umbrella of the 1980 Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW).

Officially opened by Ambassador Germán Mundaraín Hernández of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela in his capacity as President-designate of the Twelfth Annual Conference of the High Contracting Parties to Amended Protocol II on 19 April, the Group of Experts of the High Contracting Parties to Amended Protocol II (19-20 April) and the Meeting of Experts of the High Contracting Parties to Protocol V (21-23 April) this year structured their informal open-ended meetings using one programme of work throughout the entire week. Subsequently, the meetings were officially closed by Ambassador Peter Woolcott of Australia in his capacity as President-designate of the Fourth Conference of the High Contracting Parties to Protocol V on Friday, 23 April 2010.
During the week-long meeting the experts discussed various substantive issues based on the mandate given to the two expert-level meetings by the Conferences of the High Contracting Parties to the two Protocols in November 2009. The Coordinators mandated to conduct the work of the two experts meetings mutually co-chaired some sessions in a collaborative and cooperative spirit dealing with issues or a combination of issues of mutual interest under the two respective Protocols.

The experts continued from the previous year to explore the issue on improvised explosive devices in all its aspects under the Coordinator Mr. Reto Wollenmann (Switzerland). The broad topics of prevention, protection of civilians, and the humanitarian dimension resulting from improvised explosive devices use was discussed, drawing on various national experience on improvised explosive devices incidents and the scale of the problem, such as those in Afghanistan, Colombia, and the Philippines. Linking the problems related to improvised explosive devices with the issue on Victim assistance, the Coordinator Ms. Stephanie Karner (Austria) assisted by Ms. Danijela Žunec Brandt (Croatia) made headway on States’ implementation of the Plan of Action on Victim Assistance and States’ responses to the victim assistance questionnaire. This year’s major theme under this topic was the socio-economic inclusion of victims and survivors of explosive remnants of war.

A review of the operation and status of Amended Protocol II, notably the consideration of matters arising from the annual national reporting by States parties as well as development of technologies to protect civilians against indiscriminate effects of mines was also discussed under the Coordinator Mr. Abderrazzak Laassel (Morocco). The issue on the legal possibility and feasibility of terminating the original unamended CCW Protocol II was the focus of discussion.

The topic on clearance, removal or destruction of explosive remnants of war, under the Coordinator Ms. Renata Alisauskiene (Lithuania) focused on various national experiences to shed further light and share experience on implementing treaty obligations on this particular issue. Evaluation and achieving results in explosive remnants of war clearance programs was one of the highlights of this year’s discussion. Donor States were invited to make use of the explosive remnants of war database to identify all possible sources of support for explosive remnants of war-related activities as well as to advise on their own activities. Sessions were co-chaired with the Coordinator on National reporting and Recording, Retaining and Transfer of Information of the Use of Explosive Ordnance, Mr. Henrik Markuš (Slovakia) and the Coordinator on Cooperation and assistance and Requests for assistance, Mr. James C. O’Shea (Ireland) to maximize the forum’s potential to match needs with resources. In this regard, national experience in giving and receiving assistance was shared by a number of States

The issue on generic preventive measures under the responsibility of the Coordinator Capt. (Navy) Eric Steinmyller (France) highlighted some valuable national experience with regard to good management and storage of ammunition and explosive ordnance, or the lack thereof, which further accentuated the importance of implementing high standards of preventive measures at the national level.

The Web-based Information System for Protocol V (WISP.V) under the responsibility of the Coordinator Mr. Gyula Somogyi (Hungary) was examined. The experts exchanged ideas and conveyed suggestions in order to clarify a number of practical questions before the system begins its development stage. The discussion was based on a previously introduced logical flowchart that created the basic outline of the system.

The experts meetings also welcomed five new parties to Protocol V since the Third Conference in November 2009. The following are the new States and their dates of accession: Belgium (25 January 2010), Cyprus (11 March 2010), Italy (11 February 2010), Saudi Arabia (8 January 2010), and Qatar (16 November 2009)

The Coordinators will report on the work done under their respective responsibilities to the Twelfth Annual Conference of the High Contracting Parties to Amended Protocol II, which will be held on 21 November 2010, and the Fourth Conference of the High Contracting Parties to Protocol V, which will be held on 22 and 23 November 2010, respectively, at the Palais des Nations in Geneva.

Background

The CCW Protocol on Mines, Booby-Traps and Other Devices (Protocol II) was amended on 3 May 1996 at the First Review Conference of the States Parties to the CCW. The number of States that have notified the Depository of their consent to be bound by Amended Protocol II rose from 45 at the time of the First Annual Conference in 1999 to the current number of 93.

The CCW Protocol on Explosive Remnants of War (Protocol V) is the recent-most addition to the Convention and was negotiated by the CCW Group of Governmental Experts in 2002 and 2003. The Protocol, the first-ever multilateral agreement to deal with the problem of unexploded and abandoned ordnance, was adopted by the Meeting of the States Parties to the Convention on 28 November 2003 and entered into force on 12 November 2006. The number of States parties has steadily increased since the First Conference from 35 in 2007 to the current total of 66.

The 1980 Convention on the Prohibitions or Restriction of the Use of Certain Conventional Weapons Which May Be Deemed to Be Excessively Injurious or to Have Indiscriminate Effects (CCW) is an umbrella treaty, which houses five Protocols regulating different types of weapons, that can respond to advancements in weapons technology by adding more protocols if needed and takes into account developments in the nature and conduct of armed conflict.


For more information on the Conference and on the Protocol or the Convention the official website of the CCW is http://www.unog.ch/ccw .


For use of the information media; not an official record

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