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
Draft Resolution A/C.1/55/L.50
Mr Chairman,
On behalf of almost 60 co-sponsoring delegations and my own
delegation, I hereby have the honour to introduce draft resolution L 50 on the 1980
Convention on the Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Certain Conventional Weapons
Which May Be Deemed to Be Excessively Injurious or to Have Indiscriminate Effects (CCW).
My delegation appreciates the support we have received for
this draft resolution manifested in the large number of co-sponsoring countries. For the
sake of brevity, I will, with your permission Mr Chairman, refrain from reading the names
of the co-sponsors out loud.
Mr Chairman,
The 1980 Convention is a framework convention with four
annexed protocols. Protocol I adopted on 10 October 1980 deals with fragmentation weapons.
The Amended Protocol II, adopted on 3 May 1996, concerns the use on land of mines, booby
traps and other devices. A third Protocol on incendiary weapons was adopted on 10 October
1980, and on 13 October 1995, Protocol IV dealing with blinding laser weapons was adopted.
The Convention and its Protocols constitute a very essential
and integral part of international law applicable on armed conflicts. The significantly
increased occurrence of civilians being afflicted by armed conflicts since the end of the
cold war is reason enough for us all to intensify our efforts to have the Convention and
its Protocols fully implemented.
The purpose of the Convention and the Protocols is to place
constraints on the conduct of war by restricting the use of conventional weapons which may
cause excessive injuries or have indiscriminate effects on its victims. When implemented,
the rules contained in these instruments will limit the suffering of civilians as well as
combatants. The draft resolution before you therefore calls upon all states to become
parties to the Convention and its Protocols and to adhere to the provisions therein. If
these instruments are made universal and its provisions are implemented and effectively
adhered to, lives can be saved and suffering reduced.
In this context I would like to thank all those countries
which have recently acceded to or in other ways taken positive action towards adherence to
the Convention and its Protocols.
The Convention offers a framework for negotiations to
gradually redefine or expand the categories of conventional weapons covered by the
Protocols. The last Review Conference in 1995, which continued in 1996, was an opportunity
at which the High Contracting Parties succeeded in strengthening Protocol II and adopted
the new protocol on blinding laser weapons, Protocol IV. We are very pleased to note that
both instruments have entered into force.
The draft resolution before you reflects these and other
positive developments. Under the Amended Protocol II, States Parties continue to meet
annually to consult and co-operate with each other on all issues related to the operation
of the Protocol. The first annual conference was held last December in Geneva, and this
year a second conference will be convened on 11-13 December in Geneva under the presidency
of ambassador Petöcz from Slovakia. In this context, we welcome the efforts made by
ambassador Petöcz to achieve universality of the Amended Protocol II. I would like to
thank him for his statement reporting on his own efforts as well as those by the UN
Secretary-General in this regard and also reporting on the work conducted in May/June this
year by the group of experts in Geneva. The draft resolution is commending both the
efforts by the President and by the Secretary-General towards the goal of universality of
the amended protocol II.
I would like to join ambassador Petöcz in his recalling the
conclusion by the first annual conference calling on States Parties to promote wider
adherence to the Amended Protocol II in their respective regions. We hope that this year's
conference on the Protocol will provide a good opportunity to exchange views and thoughts
concerning the operation and effect of the Protocol as well as of means to achieve further
adherence to this instrument. We encourage all states as well as the ICRC and other
interested non-governmental organisations to participate.
The draft resolution also addresses the issue of convening
the second Review Conference for the Convention in 2001. It recommends that the Review
Conference be held next December in Geneva. It is our understanding that there is a need
for thorough preparations for the Review Conference and therefore the draft resolution
calls for two weeks of meetings of the Preparatory Committee in addition to the one-day
session on 14 December this year already decided upon. The Review Conferences are
important tools for addressing all issues concerning the Convention and its Protocols, how
the operation of these instruments may be improved and how the Convention may be developed
further.
We hope that the Review Conference next year will be used to
further strengthen the protection of civilians in conflict-situations and to improve the
humanitarian situation after conflicts have ended. It is also our hope that States Parties
take the opportunity offered to discuss whether other categories of conventional weapons
should be regulated under the Convention and if additional protocols would be desirable.
We would like to express our appreciation of the statement
made by Ambassador Luck earlier in this First Committee session that Australia would be
willing to serve as President of the Review Conference 2001.
Mr Chairman,
The draft resolution L50 intends to promote further
universalization of and adherence to this very important body of humanitarian law. It also
intends to promote a successful Review Conference in 2001 by providing for a thorough
preparatory process. On behalf of all its co-sponsors, I wish to express our sincere hope
that the draft resolution will be adopted by consensus, as was the case last year.
I thank you Mr Chairman.
Permanent
Mission of Sweden to the United Nations