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Disarmament DiplomacyIssue No. 28, July 1998UNSG Statement on CCW Landmines Protocol'Secretary-General announces date of entry into force of Landmines Protocol to Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons,' United Nations Press Release SG/SM/6626, 2 July 1998Full text "The following statement was issued today by the spokesman for Secretary-General Kofi Annan: The Secretary-General is depositary for two legal instruments pertaining to landmines: an early, partial measure, known as Protocol II to the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons, which was amended in 1996 to make it somewhat stronger; and the 1997 comprehensive ban, known as the Ottawa Convention. The Secretary-General has received the requisite number of notifications of consent for amended Protocol II to enter into force. It was, therefore, announced on 1 July that the amended Protocol will enter into force on 3 December 1998. The Protocol was amended by a review conference of States parties, among which are the five permanent members of the Security Council. The amendment process strengthened the Protocol by, inter alia, extending the scope of its application to cover both international and internal armed conflicts; prohibiting the use of non-detectable anti-personnel mines, albeit with a deferral period of nine years from entry into force, and their transfer; and restricting the use of non-self-destructing or self-deactivating mines to monitored, marked areas. There are now 21 States parties to amended Protocol II: Australia, Cambodia, Canada, Cape Verde, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Japan, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Monaco, New Zealand, Norway, Peru, Philippines, South Africa, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. As of 1 July, the Ottawa Convention had received 23 of the 40 ratifications required to trigger entry into force; it is expected this will occur in the first quarter of 1999." © 1998 The Acronym Institute. |