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.
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.
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