Algeria Joins Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons
GENEVA, 27 May (Office for Disarmament Affairs) — Algeria has become the 121st State Party to the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons.
On 6 May, the United Nations Office of Legal Affairs received Algeria’s accession to the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons, Protocol I on Non-Detectable Fragments, Protocol III on Incendiary Weapons, Protocol IV on Blinding Laser Weapons and the Amendment to article 1, which applies the Convention and its Protocols to non-international armed conflicts.
The Convention’s 2015 Chairperson-designate, Ambassador Ravinath Aryasinha of Sri Lanka, said: “This is fantastic news. As an important country from the Middle East region and one that has been directly impacted by conflict, Algeria brings significant experience of both disarmament processes and dealing with conventional weapons. I look forward to Algeria’s participation and contribution to the work of the [Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons].”
The purpose of the Convention is to ban or restrict the use of specific types of weapons that are considered to cause unnecessary or unjustifiable suffering to combatants or to affect civilians indiscriminately. The Convention itself contains general provisions. All prohibitions or restrictions on the use of specific weapons or weapon systems are the object of the Protocols annexed to the Convention.
For further information or media inquiries, please contact Bantan Nugroho, Head, CCW Implementation Support Unit, United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs, Palais des Nations, Geneva, at tel.: +41 22 917 1151; or e-mail: bnugroho@unog.ch.