KAZAKHSTAN TO HOST UNITED NATIONS REGIONAL SEMINAR ON PROMOTING UNIVERSALITY

 

OF CONVENTION ON CERTAIN CONVENTIONAL WEAPONS IN CENTRAL ASIA

 

In cooperation with the Government of Kazakhstan, and with financial support from the European Union, the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs is organizing a regional seminar entitled “Promoting the Universality of the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW) and its Annexed Protocols in Central Asia”.  The seminar will take place in Almaty, Kazakhstan, on 24 and 25 September.

The regional seminar is aimed at supporting the universalization of the CCW and its Protocols by promoting accession to the Convention by States that are not yet parties to the CCW from the Central Asian region.  It will serve as a regional forum for Governments to exchange ideas, experiences and lessons learned about the Convention; to consider the benefits of becoming a party to the CCW and the challenges of its implementation; and to provide information and clarify the aims and functioning of the various CCW mechanisms and tools.

The seminar will draw participants from Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russian Federation and Tajikistan.  Officials and experts from the Office for Disarmament Affairs, the European Union, the International Committee of the Red Cross, the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR) and the Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) will also attend.  It is expected that the seminar will encourage participating States from the region to accede or ratify the CCW and its Protocols.

The seminar is one of six regional seminars organized by the Office for Disarmament Affairs and financed by the European Union through its Joint Action (23 July 2007) in implementing the CCW Plan of Action on Promoting the Universality of CCW and its annexed Protocols.

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, also known as the Inhumane Weapons Convention) was opened for signature at New York on 10 April 1981 and entered into force on 2 December 1983.  It currently has 107 States Parties.  The Secretary-General of the United Nations is the depositary of the Convention.  The Convention seeks to protect civilians and combatants from the effects of weapons used in armed conflict.  It consists of a framework instrument (the Convention) and five Protocols, each of them regulating a specific category of weapons.

For more information pertaining to the CCW, please contact e-mail:  ccw@unog.ch or consult the official website of the CCW at www.unog.ch/disarmament/.

For further information on the seminar, please contact:  Xiaoyu Wang, Senior Political Affairs Officer, Regional Disarmament Branch, United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs (tel.:  212 963 9440, e-mail:  wangxy@un.org).

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For information media • not an official record