Cluster munitions under discussion

The Group of Governmental Experts (GGE) of the States Parties to the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW) convened in Geneva from 19 to 22 June 2007 for an intersessional meeting focusing on cluster munitions.

The participants discussed, among other things, how to minimise the humanitarian problems caused by the use of cluster munitions. The meeting laid a foundation for the decisions to be made in the meeting of the High Contracting Parties to the CCW, which will be held in November.

The EU proposed that the November meeting decide about the start of negotiations aiming at a legally binding protocol on cluster munitions, which would be appended to the CCW. The current CCW comprises five protocols, all of which ban and set limitations concerning certain types of weapons, such as mines and laser weapons. Launching talks about cluster munitions in the CCW would be significant, because the biggest owner, producer and user countries of cluster munitions are States Parties to the Convention.

The EU's proposal gathered wide support among the meeting participants. The GGE meeting did not make any actual decisions about the matter but, based on the discussions, the majority of the States Parties to the CCW want the November meeting to make a decision about the start of negotiations.

Finland has taken an active part in the preparation of the EU's proposal and endeavours to contribute to the decision to start negotiations in November. Finland is a State Party to the CCW and all its protocols.

Finland's delegation was led by Ambassador (disarmament)
Kari Kahiluoto.

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