STATES PARTIES TO CCW AMENDED PROTOCOL II ON PROHIBITION OF MINES TO CONVENE NINTH CONFERENCE ON 6 NOVEMBER 2007

The Ninth Annual Conference of the States Parties to the Protocol on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Mines, Booby-Traps and Other Devices (Amended Protocol II), annexed 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), will be held on Tuesday, 6 November, at the Palais des Nations in Geneva.

The Eighth Annual Conference held last year designated Ambassador Mousa Burayzat of Jordan to preside over the Conference. Three Vice-Presidents representing China, Slovakia and Switzerland were also designated to assist him.

The Conference is expected to review the operation and status of the Protocol, while emphasizing the necessity for universalization of the Protocol. As has been the case in previous conferences, the States parties will again be expected to issue an appeal to promote wider adherence to the Protocol.

In accordance with the provisions of the Protocol, the Conference will also consider matters arising from the national annual reports submitted by the States parties, containing material on the dissemination of information on Amended Protocol II to armed forces and civilian populations; mine clearance and rehabilitation programmes; steps taken to meet the technical requirements of the Protocol; legislation related to the Protocol; international cooperation and assistance and other relevant matters.

At the suggestion of the International Committee of the Red Cross, the Conference is also expected to address the issue of deferral of the implementation of detectability and self-destruct requirements for anti-personnel mines, as permitted by the Protocol for up to 9 years. The end of the permissible deferral period falls on 3 December 2007. Six countries have declared at the time of consent to be bound by the Protocol that they would defer implementation of these standards.

At the end of the Conference, the States Parties are expected to adopt a Final Document, containing the substantive decisions as well as the provisional agenda for next year’s annual conference and the presiding officers for that conference.

Protocol II was amended on 3 May 1996 at the First Review Conference of the States Parties to the CCW. The number of States that have notified the Depository of their consent to be bound by Amended Protocol II rose from 45 at the time of the First Annual Conference in 1999 to the current number of 88. For more information on the Conference and on the Protocol or the Convention, official website of the CCW within the website of the United Nations Organization at Geneva can be consulted at the following address: http://www.unog.ch/disarmament/.


For use of the information media; not an official record

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