GROUP OF GOVERNMENTAL EXPERTS ON CONVENTIONAL WEAPONS

 

TO MEET IN GENEVA FROM 7 TO 11 MARCH

 

(Reissued as received.)

GENEVA, 3 March (UN Information Service) -- 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 to 12 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 Groups of Governmental Experts on Tracing Illicit Small Arms and Light Weapons (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 Markotić 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 Ambassador 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 the 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 minimizing the humanitarian risk of these munitions becoming explosive remnants of war.  Exchange of information, assistance and cooperation would be part of this work.

On the issue of the 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 United Nations Secretary-General, as depositary of the Convention, of their consent to be bound by Protocol V.

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