Conference on classical inhuman weapons: Switzerland re- affirms its determination to achieve international regulation of cluster munitions
Berne, 17.11.2006 - Switzerland re-affirms its wish for international legally binding regulation of cluster munitions at the 3rd Review Conference of the Convention on the Prohibition or Restrictions on the Use of Certain Conventional Weapons which May be Deemed to be Exceedingly Injurious or to have Indiscriminate Effects (CCW). The conference was held from 7 to 17 November 2006 in Geneva.
The 3rd CCW Review Conference led to an agreement between the States parties with regard to a mandate "to consider the application and the implementation of existing international humanitarian law for specific munitions which can cause explosive remnants of war, with particular attention to cluster munitions […]". This discussion mandate represents a positive development within the CCW in that it marks the recognition by the States parties of the humanitarian problem posed by cluster munitions in particular.
At the opening of the conference, six countries proposed a mandate to establish a working group to conduct negotiations on a legally binding instrument to address the humanitarian problems posed by certain cluster munitions.This proposal was supported by more than 25 countries - including Switzerland – representing more than a quarter of the States parties to the convention. The support of Switzerland is consistent with the continuity of its commitment within the CCW since the last review conference in 2001. Such a mandate would have represented the most appropriate initiative to attempt to urgently resolve the most serious humanitarian problems.
In order to underline its firm intention to find an international solution to the problem of cluster munitions, Switzerland joined more than 20 States parties at the end of the conference in signing a political statement on cluster munitions calling for an international agreement on this subject. Switzerland thus clearly re-affirms its commitment to international regulation of cluster munitions.
Switzerland played a pioneering role in underlining the need for regulation in 2001 at the 2nd review conference. Switzerland proposed regulating the supply, the reliability, the production, the transfer and the destruction of stocks of certain cluster munitions.
At the end of the 3rd Review Conference of the CCW, Switzerland regrets that it was not possible to reach a consensus on the international law norms concerning anti-vehicle mines. On the other hand, it is pleased with the new programme of sponsorship and the tangible results achieved in promoting the universality of the Convention.
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