Geneva
Forum Activities
"Inhumane"
Weapons
Index
|
Date |
Theme |
Speakers |
| 25 March 2008 | Meeting of African States on Cluster Munitions: Key Challenges for the African Regional Meeting & Dublin Negotiations African countries have already demonstrated the importance they attach to preventing this from happening. Forty African States participate in the Oslo Process on cluster munitions. Of these, 17 have already endorsed the Wellington Declaration on cluster munitions, which gives them access to negotiations on a new ‘Cluster Munitions Convention’ that will take place in Dublin, Ireland, from 19-30 May this year. In advance of the Dublin negotiations, the Government of Zambia will host an all-Africa Regional Meeting on cluster munitions in Livingstone from 31 March – 1 April with the aim of considering “effective responses to the humanitarian consequences caused by the use of cluster munitions and the proliferation threat thereof.” Our meeting took place a week before the Zambia Regional Meeting and was designed to brief African Missions and stimulate discussion on some of the key negotiating challenges for the Dublin conference; especially on the question of defining a cluster munition. Experts from the United Nations, the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Cluster Munitions Coalition provided concise briefings on these issues. Our meeting also previewed the African Regional Meeting on Cluster Munitions and provided practical information on its goals, agenda, and how to participate. UNDP Zambia has already created a website for the Livingston Conference that contains, inter alia, a message from the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Zambia, a “Draft Livingstone Declaration on Cluster Munitions” and a full meeting programme (see http://www.undp.org.zm/clustermunitionslivingstone). Our meeting was followed by a reception, hosted by the Geneva Forum, in the Delegate’s Restaurant on the 8th floor of the Palais des Nations, to which all participants were cordially invited. |
Co Chairs: Speakers: |
| 7 February 2008 | From Vienna to Wellington: Update on Oslo Process on Cluster Munitions The Oslo Process on Cluster Munitions aims to conclude a legally
binding treaty by the end of this year that will: The process was launched at a conference in Oslo, Norway, in February 2007 at which 46 States committed themselves to these goals. Sixty-eight States participated in the second conference in Lima, Peru, in May of last year and 138 States participated in the most recent conference of the Oslo Process held in Vienna, Austria, in December. The Government of New Zealand is to host the next meeting in Wellington on February 18-22. A two-week Diplomatic Conference to negotiate a Cluster Munitions Convention is scheduled to take place in Dublin, Ireland, in May of this year (2008). The Wellington conference is an important next step in the Oslo process. In the New Zealand capital, States will further develop common understandings on key elements of a treaty to address the humanitarian impacts of cluster munitions. The text of the “Draft Declaration of the Wellington Conference on Cluster Munitions” as well as the text of a “Draft Cluster Munitions Convention,” along with explanatory notes, are already available on the Wellington Conference website: http://www.mfat.govt.nz/clustermunitionswellington. The briefing was designed to bring Geneva Missions, International Organisations, NGOs and media networks up to date on the rapid developments that have been taking place in the Oslo Process over the last few months and also to preview plans, preparations and objectives for the forthcoming conference in Wellington, including by providing States with information on how they can participate in this conference. |
Chair: Speakers: |
| 9 October 2007 | Addressing the Humanitarian Impact of Cluster Munitions: A Briefing
for Diplomats
Cluster munitions create serious humanitarian problems both
at the time of their use and for years afterwards, when unexploded
submunitions threaten the lives of civilians in affected areas.
The well-documented danger these weapons pose demands an urgent
and broad international response. For this reason, a call was made
in February 2007 in Oslo, Norway, and again in Lima, Peru, in May
for the negotiation of a convention on cluster munitions by 2008.
The “Oslo Process” now has the support of over 80 states,
and continued through meetings in Vienna (December 2007), and will
continue in Wellington (February 2008), and Dublin (May 2008). |
Mr.
Thomas Nash,
Coordinator, Cluster Munitions Coalition (CMC)
Mr. Ahmad Arafa, Second Secretary, Permanent Mission of the Republic of Lebanon to the United Nations H.E. Mr. Slobodan Vukcevic, Ambassador, Permanent Representative of the Republic of Serbia to the United Nations Mr. John Borrie, Senior Researcher and Project Manager, United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR) Ambassador Wolfgang Petritsch, Permanent Representative of Austria to the United Nations Mr. Steve Goose, Executive Director,
Arms Division, Human Rights Watch |
| 21
April
2007 |
Informal
Brainstorming Meeting on Cluster Munitions This meeting was designed to convene a small but influential
group of people to reflect on these rapid developments and to
consider their likely implications for the near term. This meeting
was aimed to identify the principal challenges facing States
in the run-up to the Lima meeting in May and to the CCW meeting
in June, and was also aimed to help participants to coordinate
their efforts in meeting these challenges. |
Meeting held under the Chatham House Rule |
| 5 March 2006 | Informal Brainstorming Meeting on Cluster Munitions
There is widening international concern about the humanitarian effects of cluster munitions. Research indicates that, in the limited set of conflicts in which they have been used, submunitions constitute a disproportionate hazard to civilians, in some cases at the time of use (because of targeting, deployment or design failure) as well as post-conflict. An informal brainstorming meeting was organised to evaluate the issue of cluster munitions, the state of play of international activity in this area, and risks and options for the coming 6-18 months, including in the context of the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW) process, involved around 20 participants with backgrounds in policy, negotiation, research and advocacy who are already pro-active on cluster munition issues. It took place on the day before the commencement of the 13th meeting of the CCW Group of Governmental Experts on ERW and MOTAPM. The
Geneva Forum’s
role intended to facilitate dialogue among the participants,
with a view to the emergence of shared
understandings about the issues at hand. |
Meeting held under the Chatham House Rule |
| 8 July 2004 |
Reducing the Humanitarian Impact of Cluster Bombs: What can be done? The use of cluster bombs in recent armed conflicts – especially in Iraq, Afghanistan and Kosovo – has heightened concerns about their humanitarian consequences. In addition to worries about the indiscriminate nature of these weapons at the time of their use, are concerns about the long-term humanitarian impact caused by the many thousands of unexploded cluster sub-munitions that remain to threaten the life, limb and livelihood of local populations for many years after a conflict has ended. This seminar considered some practical ways of reducing the humanitarian impact of cluster munitions. Ambassador Volker Heinsberg of Germany introduced a recent workshop organised by the governments of Switzerland and Germany to examine technical means of improving the design of cluster munitions so as to reduce the number of “duds” they produce. Mr. Roman Hunger of Switzerland outlined the content, conclusions and follow-up of this workshop, held in Thun, Switzerland, on 26-28 May 2004. Mr. Thomas Nash of Mines Action Canada presented new research identifying the specific factors that cause some cluster munitions to have particularly devastating humanitarian impacts, and identified some of the most unreliable types of cluster bombs in existence today. Following on from the presentations, an informal discussion focused on practical ways of reducing the humanitarian impact of cluster munitions, drawing on the results of both the Thun workshop and the Mines Action Canada research, and relating this to the current mandate of the CCW Group of Governmental Experts’ Working Group on Explosive Remnants of War.
|
Ambassador Volker Heinsberg, Permanent Representative of Germany to the Conference on Disarmament Mr.
Roman Hunger, Policy Advisor, Swiss Federal Department
of Defence, Civil Protection and Sports Mr.
Thomas Nash, Research Coordinator for Explosive Remnants
of War, Mines Action Canada |
|
19 November 2003 |
Explosive Remnants of War and Development The week of November 17-21 saw two important and related activities in Geneva – the continuation of negotiations within the framework of the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW) on post-conflict remedial measures to reduce the risks posed by Explosive Remnants of War and, at the same time, the first meeting the Group of Governmental Experts on the Relationship between Disarmament and Development. The Geneva Forum organised this seminar to make a connection between these two important process and to raise awareness on the consequences for development of explosive remnants of war. Discussions on the relationship between disarmament and development have a long pedigree. Originally focusing on trade-offs between state resources expended on defence and armaments, on the one hand, and social and economic development, on the other, the discussion has more recently evolved to consider the human development and human security consequences of disarmament, or lack thereof. A good deal of research has been carried out on the relationship between disarmament and development in the context of mine action. The relevance of this work specifically to explosive remnants of war is clear, since mine action operators – those who actually undertake demining – deal with both landmines and other forms of unexploded ordinance. This seminar built on the development analysis in the area of mine action and extended it specifically to explosive remnants of war, highlighting similarities and differences in the approaches that can be taken.
|
Ambassador Chris Sanders, Permanent Representative of the Netherlands to the Conference on Disarmament;Coordinator of the Explosive Remnants of War working group of the Group of Governmental Experts of the States Parties to the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons. Ambassador José Nicolas Rivas, Deputy Permanent Representative of Colombia to the United Nations, New York;Chair of the Group of Governmental Experts on the Relationship Between Disarmament and Development. Ambassador Wolfgang Petritsch, Permanent Representative of Austria to the United Nations, Geneva;President Designate of the First Review Conference of the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention. Ms. Sara Sekkenes, Landmine Policy Advisor, Norwegian People’s Aid. |
|
23 September 1998 |
Weapons: A Question of Health? Based on the concern voiced by Governments, experts and other organisations about the increasingly large quantities of light weapons available to non-state actors, the third in the series of the Geneva Forum seminars focused on effects of weapons that result specifically from the design, nature or technology of the weapon. Dr. Coupland and Dr. Meddings presented the case that health-related data concerning the effects of weapons can be used to help determine which weapons cause "superfluous injury or unnecesssary suffering."
|
Dr. Robin M. Coupland, Surgical Coordinator and Advisor on the Effects of Weapons, International Committee of the Red Cross, Geneva. Dr. David Meddings, Epidemiologist, Health Operations Division, International Committee of the Red Cross, Geneva.
|
| 6 October 1997 |
Cruel and Indiscriminate Weapons: Possible Future Bans Under International Humanitarian Law The seminar was held in preparation for the Review Conference of the 1980 Convention on Prohibition or Restrictions on Certain Conventional Weapons which may be Deed to be Excessively Injurious or to have Indiscriminate Effects (CCW), which was to be held in 2001. Mr. Eric Prokosch, who was asked by the organizers to gave his remarks on the Convention, first noted that the Convention was intended to protect soldiers from superfluous injury by certain conventional weapons and civilians from their indiscriminate effects. He outlined as possible topics for discussion at the Review Conference as; Small-calibre weapons systems, Cluster weapons, Incendiaries, Enhanced-blast munitions, Depleted uranium, Directed-energy weapons and Artillery. Of these, cluster weapons are the number one issue from the humanitarian perspective.
|
Mr. Eric Prokosch |
PDF, 250KB