FURTHER PROGRESS MADE TOWARDS A NEW PROTOCOL ON CLUSTER MUNITIONS

International negotiations to address the humanitarian challenges posed by cluster munitions made further progress this month as the Group of Governmental Experts to the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW) concluded its third 2008 Session today at the Palais des Nations in Geneva.

For three weeks, military, technical and legal experts worked in a productive environment in an effort to address humanitarian harm caused by cluster munitions. The Group is entrusted to "negotiate a proposal to address urgently the humanitarian impact of cluster munitions, while striking a balance between military and humanitarian considerations”, a mandate adopted by the States parties in November last year. In total, 78 States parties, 2 signatory States, 18 observer States and 7 non-governmental organizations took part in the meeting.

The Group, chaired by Ambassador Bent Wigotski of Denmark, negotiated a text of a new instrument on cluster munitions in meetings of its military and technical experts conducted under the chairmanship of Major General Lars Fynbo of Denmark, as well as intensive consultations spearheaded by Friends of the Chair: Mr. Craig Maclachlan of Australia on cooperation and assistance, Mr. Markus Reiterer of Austria on Victim assistance, Lt. Col. Jim Burke of Ireland on definitions, and Mr. Ryuichi Hirano of Japan on protection of civilians and civilian objects. Facilitators were also appointed to deal with the sensitive issues on technical improvements, which include the aspects of accuracy, reliability and testing of cluster munitions. A Chair’s Paper contained in document CCW/GGE/2008-III/2 was the basis of the negotiations.

Progress was made on many aspects of the problem of cluster munitions. This enabled the Chairperson to provide delegations with a new version of the Chair's Paper, which is annexed to the session's Procedural Report. The new version will be examined by the Group at its next session in September.

The humanitarian impact of cluster munitions has been discussed within 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 since 2001, first - under a broader theme of explosive remnants of war, and since last year – as the main item of the agenda of the Group of Governmental Experts.

The 1980 Convention was opened for signature at New York on 10 April 1981 and entered into force on 2 December 1983. It currently has 105 States Parties, and six countries have signed but not yet ratified the Convention. The Secretary-General of the United Nations is the depositary of the Convention.

The fourth 2008 session of the Group of Governmental Experts will take place in Geneva from 1 to 5 September 2008.


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