STATES PARTIES APPEAL FOR WIDER ADHERENCE TO AMENDED PROTOCOL II ON PROHIBITION OF MINES, BOOBY-TRAPS AND OTHER DEVICES

The Seventh Annual Conference of the States Parties to the Protocol on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Mines, Booby-Traps and Other Devices (Amended Protocol II), annexed to 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 (CCW), concluded on Wednesday, 23 November 2005, at the Palais des Nations in Geneva with an appeal from States Parties to promote wider adherence to Amended Protocol II in their respective regions and for all States that have not yet done so to accede to the Protocol.

At its one-day meeting, the Conference confirmed the nomination of Ambassador Jürg Streuli of Switzerland as President of the Conference, as well as Ambassador Ambassador Hu Xiaodi of China, Ambassador Alexander Slaby of the Czech Republic and Ambassador Mousa Burayzat of Jordan as Vice-Presidents. In accordance with Article 13 of Amended Protocol II, the Conference reviewed the operation and status of the Protocol, while emphasizing the essential need to attain a higher degree of universalization of the Protocol.

This year the Conference received national annual reports from 60 States Parties containing material on the dissemination of information on Amended Protocol II to armed forces and civilian populations; mine clearance and rehabilitation programmes; steps taken to meet the technical requirements of the Protocol; legislation related to the Protocol; international cooperation and assistance and other relevant matters.

In line with a decision taken at the Fourth Annual Conference to designate the future President and Vice-Presidents by the end of the current meeting to assure continuity in preparatory work carried out by the President, the Conference decided to nominate the Permanent Representative of the Czech Republic as President-designate of the Eight Annual Conference in 2006, as well as the Ambassadors of China, Germany and Jordan as Vice-Presidents-designate.


Protocol II was adopted in 1980 together with the CCW framework convention, Protocol I on Non-detectable Fragments and Protocol III on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Incendiary Weapons. Subsequently, Protocol II was amended on 3 May 1996 at the First Review Conference of the States Parties to the CCW. The Amended Protocol contains several general rules as well as a number of technical and other requirements to the design and the use of mines, booby-traps and other devices, aimed at minimizing their humanitarian impact. The States Parties also have an obligation to undertake all appropriate steps, including legislative and other measures, to prevent and suppress violations of the Protocol by persons or on territory under its jurisdiction or control. The States Parties organize annual meetings to deliberate on the functioning of the Protocol and submit annual reports. The number of States which have submitted notifications of their consent to be bound by Amended Protocol II has increased from 45 at the time of the First Annual Conference in 1999 to 85 in 2005.

For use of the information media; not an official record

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