Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW)
OverviewPurpose and BackgroundThe Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW) [long title: Convention on Prohibitions or Restrictions on Use of Certain Conventional Weapons which May Be Deemed to Be Excessively Injurious or to Have Indiscriminate Effects] is one of several legally binding international agreements that fall under the general heading of "Laws of War," regulating the means and methods of warfare. The CCW is composed of a convention and five protocols. Together, they restrict or prohibit the use of conventional weapons whose effects have been declared to cause indiscriminate harm to civilians or to produce unnecessary suffering to combatants. Protocol I Protocol I prohibits the use of weapons whose primary effect is to cause injury with fragments that cannot be detected in the human body by X-ray, such as plastic fragments. Protocol II prohibits or restricts the use of mines, booby traps and other devices against civilians or military targets in ways that may cause indiscriminate harm to civilians. Such devices are prohibited in populated areas where combat is not taking place unless directed against a specific military target. In addition, the Protocol restricts the use of remotely delivered mines, requires that the location of minefields be recorded and disclosed at the end of hostilities, and calls for international cooperation to remove mines and other devices at the end of hostilities. Protocol II was amended May 3, 1996, as agreed by the States Parties at the first Review Conference held from April-May 1996, and entered into force two years later on December 3, 1998. The purpose of the amended Protocol was to extend its provisions to apply to internal conflicts as well as to international conflicts. The amended Protocol II, often referred to as the Amended Mines Protocol, also shortened the duration of unmarked anti-personnel landmines and required all anti-personnel landmines to be detectable. Protocol IIIprohibits or restricts the use of incendiary weapons against civilians and the use of air-delivered incendiary weapons against military targets located in areas where civilian populations are concentrated. The use of non-air-delivered weapons under the same circumstances is allowed in cases where the military target is clearly separated from the surrounding civilian population. Additionally, the use of incendiary weapons on forests and plant cover is restricted. Protocol IV was adopted in October 1995 and entered into force on July 30, 1998. It prohibits the use and sale of lasers specifically designed to cause permanent blindness to unenhanced vision. Protocol V was adopted on November 28, 2003, and entered into force on November 12, 2006. It addresses the threat of explosive remnants of war (ERW) and covers munitions, such as artillery shells, grenades, and gravity bombs, which fail to explode as intended. It also addresses any unused explosives left behind and uncontrolled by armed forces. The Amendment to Article 1 was proposed in 2001 at the Second Review Conference and entered into force on May 18, 2004. The Amendment expands the scope of the CCW to address situations of internal, as well as international, armed conflicts. States Parties to the CCW are required not only to sign and ratify the Convention but also to consent to be bound by at least two of the Protocols. The United States signed the CCW in 1982, ratified the Convention on March 24, 1995, and gave its consent to be bound by Protocols I and II in 1995. The United States submitted the Amended Protocol II, as well as Protocol III and Protocol IV, to the Senate for its advice and consent to ratification on January 7, 1997. The Amended Protocol II was ratified on May 24, 1999. The President submitted Protocol V and the Amendment to Article 1 to the Senate for advice and consent to ratification on June 20, 2006. Protocols III, IV, and V, and the Amendment to Article 1 were ratified by the United States on January 21, 2009. Potential Facility ImpactsKey Verification MeasuresThe CCW contains no verification measures. However, at the April-May 1996 CCW Review Conference (RevCon), the United States proposed a Compliance Annex to Protocol II pertaining to landmines. The Annex would permit any State Party to convene a Compliance Meeting for the purpose of conducting an inquiry to clarify or resolve compliance concerns. The proposed Annex would also allow Meeting members to dispatch teams of experts to areas and installations where they could reasonably collect facts (with limited access) relevant to compliance issues. The United States renewed this offer in December 1999 at the First Annual Conference of Parties to the Amended Mines Protocol. Should the U.S.-proposed Compliance Annex to Protocol II be adopted, a large number of facilities could be subject to on-site inspections or to other forms of monitoring. This proposed Annex would also provide inspected States Parties with the right to make necessary arrangements to:
The Second RevCon was held in December 2001. In preparation for the RevCon, the United States submitted a set of proposals to "significantly improve the protection of civilians, peacekeepers and friendly armed forces." These proposals included:
The States Parties also considered issues related to ERW (e.g., cluster munitions) and small caliber weapons and ammunition. At the conclusion of the RevCon, the States Parties agreed to a number of specific measures, which included:
On November 12, 2006, the CCW’s Protocol V on ERW entered into force. This Protocol requires each State Party to clear or destroy all ERW in the territories under its control at the end of a conflict. If the state that used the ERW does not control the territory where the ERW are located, the user state is required to provide assistance with clearing and destroying the ERW, if feasible. In addition, the Protocol requires States Parties to protect the civilians in their territories from the effects of ERW. The Third RevCon was held from November 7-17, 2006, in Geneva. At this meeting the States Parties agreed to meet bilaterally to discuss matters relating to CCW compliance. The parties also decided that a Meeting of the High Contracting Parties should review the status of the CCW and identify means for assisting states with implementing the Convention and its Protocols. Implementation involves recommending appropriate national legislation and providing information to armed forces and civilians regarding the actions required to meet the CCW’s technical requirements. In addition, a group of experts was created to provide assistance and answer questions regarding CCW compliance. Current ActivitiesRecent DevelopmentsThe United States ratified Protocols III, IV, and V, as well as the Amendment to Article 1, on January 21, 2009. As of March 2009, the Convention status is as follows:
In 2008, the Group of Governmental Experts (GGE) met in January, April, July, and September. The GGE meetings focused on the issue of cluster munitions, which has increasingly gained global attention. The GGE drafted a working definition of cluster munitions for future negotiations, and discussed the humanitarian and military impacts, as well as the legal and technical aspects of cluster munitions use. The United States supports the addition of a CCW Protocol focused on minimizing the impact of cluster munitions, and does not believe any independent agreements banning cluster munitions are strategically sound. For more information on cluster munitions initiatives and U.S. policy, please see the DTIRP synopsis for the Convention on Cluster Munitions. Also in 2008, the Tenth Annual Conference of the High Contracting Parties to Amended Protocol II met on November 12, 2008, and the Meeting of the High Contracting Parties was held from November 13-14, 2008. The 2008 Meeting of Experts of the States Parties to Protocol V on ERW was held at the Palais des Nations on July 4, 2008, to evaluate the Protocol’s first year of implementation. The discussions focused on: ERW clearance; cooperation and assistance; national reporting and generic electronic templates; generic preventive measures; and victim assistance. The Second Conference of the High Contracting Parties to CCW Protocol V met from November 10-11, 2008. At the 2008 Meeting of the High Contracting Parties, it was agreed that the next Meeting of the High Contracting Parties will be held in Geneva from November 12-13, 2009. This meeting will be chaired by Ambassador Babacar Carlos M'baye of Senegal. The Eleventh Annual Conference of the High Contracting Parties to Amended Protocol II will be held on November 11, 2009 in Geneva.
At the 2008 Meeting of High Contracting Parties, it was also agreed that the GGE will meet for up to two weeks in 2009 to continue negotiations on a cluster munitions protocol. The GGE met from February 16-20, 2009. At this meeting the GGE negotiated the definition of cluster munitions and discussed topics concerning victim assistance, cluster munitions transfers, international cooperation and assistance, and cluster munitions storage, clearance, and destruction. The GGE next met from April 14-17, 2009, and reviewed the consolidated text proposed for the cluster munitions protocol. A copy is available on the DTIRP website in the CCW Second Session GGE Procedural Report (2009).
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