UNITED NATIONS REGIONAL SEMINAR ON PROMOTING UNIVERSALITY OF CONVENTION

ON CERTAIN CONVENTIONAL WEAPONS TO BE HELD IN RABAT, 19-20 NOVEMBER

 

New York, 17 November (UNODA) -- In cooperation with the Government of Morocco, and with financial support from the European Union, the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA) is organizing a regional seminar entitled “Promoting the Universality of the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW) and its annexed Protocols in the Middle East and the Mediterranean”.  The seminar will take place in Rabat, Morocco, on 19 and 20 November 2008.

The regional seminar is aimed at the universalization of the CCW and its Protocols through promoting accession to the Convention by States from the Middle East and the Mediterranean region that are not yet parties.  The seminar will provide information and clarify the aims and functioning of the various CCW mechanisms and tools.  More importantly, it will serve as a regional forum for governments to exchange ideas, experiences and lessons learned about the Convention, and to consider the benefits of becoming a party, as well as the challenges of its implementation.

The seminar will draw participants from Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, United Arab Emirates, and Yemen.  Officials and experts from UNODA, the European Union, the International Committee of the Red Cross, the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research, the United Nations Mine Action Service and the League of Arab States will also attend.  It is expected that the seminar will encourage participating States from the region to accede to or ratify the CCW and its Protocols.

The seminar is one of six regional seminars organized by UNODA and financed by the European Union through its 23 July 2007 Joint Action aimed at 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 108 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 certain 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 ccw@unog.ch or consult the official website of the CCW at:  http://www.unog.ch/ccw .

For further information on the seminar, please contact:  Carina van Vliet, Regional Disarmament Branch, UNODA (tel.: +1-212-963-7876, e-mail:  vanvliet@un.org ).

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For information media • not an official record