GROUP OF EXPERTS CONCLUDES NEGOTIATIONS ON A PROTOCOL ON EXPLOSIVE REMNANTS OF WAR

GROUP OF EXPERTS CONCLUDES NEGOTIATIONS ON A PROTOCOL ON EXPLOSIVE REMNANTS OF WAR

(Reissued as received.)

GENEVA, 27 November (UN Information Service) -- The Group of Governmental Experts on Explosive Remnants of War and Mines Other Than Anti-Personnel Mines (known as MOTAPM), which was set up by the second review conference of States parties to the Convention on Prohibitions or Restrictions, on the Use of Certain Conventional Weapons deemed to be excessively injurious or to have indiscriminate effects (CCW), concluded its sixth session on Monday, 24 November 2003, at the Palais des Nations in Geneva. 

After intensive negotiations, the group reached agreement on a new protocol on the explosive remnants of war and agreed to recommend that the meeting of the States parties to the Convention, to be held from 27 to 28 November 2003, decide to adopt the text of the protocol.  The new protocol represents a balance of the interests of many different countries.  Its text is contained in Annex II of the Report, and it will become Protocol V on Explosive Remnants of War, to be annexed to the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons.

The group also agreed to continue its work in 2004 on the issue of explosive remnants of war, namely to continue to consider the implementation of existing principles of international humanitarian law, and to further study preventive measures aimed at improving the design of certain specific types of munitions, including sub-munitions, with a view to minimize the humanitarian risk of those munitions becoming such remnants.

On the issue of the MOTAPM, Denmark and the United States succeeded in obtaining 27 co-sponsors, as of 25 November 2003, for their proposal on a protocol on prohibitions or restrictions on the use and transfer of such mines.  The group agreed to recommend to the meeting of the States parties that it would continue its work in 2004, with a mandate to consider all proposals on the MOTAPM, put forward since the establishment of the group of governmental experts, with the aim of elaborating appropriate recommendations on the MOTAPM, for submission to the next meeting of the States parties to the convention.

The meetings of the group were chaired by Ambassador Rakesh Sood of India, who is Chairman-designate of the 2003 meeting of States parties.  Throughout the three sessions of the group during 2003, Ambassador Chris Sanders of the Netherlands acted as coordinator on explosive remnants of war, and Peter Kolarov of Bulgaria served as coordinator on mines other than anti-personnel mines.

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