CCW-GGE on ERW and Cluster Munitions, (Geneva, 19 - 22 June 2007)
Mr Chairman,I have the honour to speak as the Presidency of the European Union.
The Member States of the European Union came to this Meeting of CCW Governmental Experts with the aim of enabling this body to clearly show the CCW's relevance to matters of International Humanitarian Law in general and humanitarian concerns of cluster munitions in particular.
This is why we introduced at the start of our meeting a proposal for a negotiating mandate on cluster munitions to be recommended by this GGE for adoption by the Meeting of the High Contracting Parties to the CCW in November 2007.
The key provision of our proposal, which remains on the table, is for the Conference of CCW states parties in November 2007 “to establish a Group of Governmental Experts with a schedule of no less than three meetings to negotiate a legally-binding instrument that addresses the humanitarian concerns of cluster munitions in all their aspects by the end of 2008.”
The European Union submitted this proposal with the aim of concluding a legally binding instrument that prohibits the use, production, transfer and stockpiling of cluster munitions that cause unacceptable harm to civilians and includes provisions on co-operation and assistance.
We were encouraged by a large number of statements by delegations from all five continents that underlined the need to urgently enter into negotiations on such an instrument and by the fact that already now a clear majority of High Contracting Parties of the CCW present in this meeting expressed their support for our draft mandate contained in Working Paper CCW/GGE/2007/WP.3.
This to a certain degree balances our disappointment which I cannot hide that it was not yet possible to achieve consensus on a recommendation by this GGE to the Meeting of High Contracting Parties on a draft mandate, in spite of countless urgent calls for action on cluster munitions made by the United Nations Secretary General, the International Committee of the Red Cross, a large number of states and many prominent representatives of civil society and in spite of your strenuous efforts, Mr.Chairman, to bridge the gaps in this meeting.
In this respect the GGE has not been fully up to the expectations that we and the world outside the CCW have of this body.
We very much hope and expect that this situation will change until we meet again in November. Time is short until then; and that meeting needs to be thoroughly prepared in advance.
The European Union will continue to be actively engaged in all discussions on this subject with all parties concerned.
