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Group of Governmental Experts
of States Parties to CCW To Meet in Geneva from 7 to 11 March 2005
3 March 2005
The Tenth Session of the Group of Governmental Experts of the
States Parties 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),
established by the Second Review Conference of the States Parties
to the Convention on 21 December 2001, will be held from 7 to 11
March at the Palais des Nations in Geneva. The Group will hold its
Eleventh Session from 2 to12 August 2005 and its Twelfth Session
from 14 to 22 November 2005.
The Meeting of the States Parties to the Convention held from 18
to 19 November 2004 agreed on new mandates for the two respective
GGE working groups on Explosive Remnants of War (ERW) and Mines
Other than Anti-Personnel Mines (MOTAPM) as well as on the possible
options to promote compliance with the Convention and its annexed
Protocols. The Meeting of the States Parties also decided that Ambassador
Gordan Markotic of Croatia, as Chairperson-designate of the Meeting
of the States Parties from 24 to 25 November 2005, would chair all
the three sessions of the Group. The Meeting appointed Ambasador
Jayant Prasad of India as Coordinator on ERW and Ambassador Markku
Reimaa of Finland as Coordinator on MOTAPM. Furthermore, the Meeting
of the States Parties also decided that the Chairperson-designate
would undertake consultations on the preparation of the Third Review
Conference of the States Parties to the Convention, which is scheduled
to be held in 2006.
On the issue of ERW, the Group 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.
On the issue of MOTAPM, the Group will consider all proposals put
forward since the establishment of the Group of Governmental Experts
with the aim of elaborating appropriate recommendations on mines
other than anti-personnel mines for submission to the next Meeting
of the States Parties to the Convention. Meetings of military experts
shall also be conducted to provide advice on these activities.
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 was concluded on October 10, 1980,
and entered into force on December 2, 1983. The Convention consists
of a framework instrument and five individual protocols that regulate
specific types of weapons, which are considered to cause unnecessary
or unjustifiable suffering or to have other humanitarian consequences.
Currently 97 States are party to the Convention with a further seven
having signed but not yet ratified. Four of the Protocols, annexed
to the Convention are already in force, namely: Protocol I on Non-Detectable
Fragments; Protocol II on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use
of Mines, Booby Traps and Other Devices, as amended on 3 May 1996;
Protocol III on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Incendiary
Weapons; and Protocol IV on Blinding Laser Weapons.
The most recent of the Protocols, annexed to the Convention, namely
Protocol V on Explosive Remnants of War, was adopted on 28 November
2003 by the Meeting of the States Parties to the Convention. The
Protocol is intended to eradicate the daily threat that such legacies
of wars pose to populations in need for development and to humanitarian
aid workers operating in the field to help them. Since its adoption,
four States have thus far notified the UN Secretary-General, as
depositary of the Convention, of their consent to be bound by Protocol
V.
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