GROUP OF GOVERNMENTAL EXPERTS OF CCW STATES PARTIES MEET IN GENEVA FROM 19 TO 23 JUNE 2006

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), presided by Ambassador François Rivasseau of France as President-designate of the Third Review Conference, will take place from 19 to 23 June at the Palais des Nations in Geneva.

The 2005 Meeting of the States Parties to the Convention decided that the Third Review Conference shall be held in Geneva from 7 to 17 November 2006 and that all necessary preparations would be undertaken within the framework of the Group of Governmental Experts. The States Parties also appointed Ambassador Edvardas Borisovas of Lithuania as the Coordinator on Explosive Remnants of War (ERW) and Ambassador Carlos Antonio da Rocha Paranhos of Brazil as the Coordinator on Mines Other Than Anti Personnel Mines (MOTAPM).

The Group will continue to discuss matters related to the preparation of the Third Review Conference, 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.

The Working Group on ERW will 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 Working Group will continue to consider all proposals put forward since the establishment of the Group of Governmental Experts 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 Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons is one of the principal instruments of International Humanitarian Law, which builds upon the basic customary rules on the conduct of hostilities, namely the principle of distinction between civilians and combatants and the one of superfluous injury or unnecessary suffering. The structure of the Convention (CCW) – a chapeau Convention and annexed Protocols – was adopted in a manner to ensure future flexibility. The purpose of the Convention is to ban or restrict the use of specific types of weapons that are considered to cause unnecessary or unjustifiable suffering to combatants or to affect civilians indiscriminately.

The most recent of the Protocols annexed to the Convention is Protocol V on Explosive Remnants of War. 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 – six months after the day at least 20 countries have formally agreed to be bound by it. As of 16 June 2006, 23 States have notified the UN Secretary-General, as depositary of the Convention, of their consent to be bound by it.

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