Coordinating Committee

At the Convention’s First Meeting of the States Parties in 1999, the States Parties established five Standing Committees “to consolidate and concentrate global mine action efforts to the greatest extent possible and to highlight the role of the Convention as a comprehensive framework for mine action.” After the first year of intersessional work, a need for greater coordination between the Co-Chairs of the Standing Committees was identified. It was noted that an established coordinating mechanism could greatly assist in identifying issues of common concern, identifying gaps and potential overlaps in the Standing Committees’ agendas, and ensure that uniform progress is made and reported back to Meetings of the States Parties. Given this reflection, at the Convention’s Second Meeting of the States Parties (2MSP) in 2000, the States Parties established “a Coordinating Committee of Co-Chairs,” which would meet on an ad hoc basis and be chaired the Convention’s current President. It was agreed that “this Committee will serve to coordinate matters relating to and flowing from the work of the Standing Committees with the work of the Meetings of the States Parties.”

Since 2000, the Coordinating Committee has typically met six to eight times a year to fulfil its mandate. At the Convention’s First Review Conference in 2004 and Second Review Conference in 2009, the States Parties formally “recognized the value and importance of the Coordinating Committee (…) in the effective functioning and implementation of the Convention.” In addition, at both Review Conferences, the States Parties remarked on the Coordinating Committee’s flexibility and practical-minded approach in organizing the annual Intersessional Work Programme. As well, the States Parties observed the transparent manner with which the Coordinating Committee had carried out its work. In the Cartagena Action Plan 2010-2014, the States Parties agreed to “support the efforts of the President and the Coordinating Committee to ensure effective and transparent preparations and conduct of meetings of the Convention.”

The members of the Coordinating Committee are the Co-Chairs of the Standing Committees and the Convention’s President, who serves as the Chair. In 2013, the members of the Coordinating Committee are the following:

Coordinating Committee members

The 2MSP also agreed that “as appropriate, the Committee can call upon any relevant party to assist in its work, including past Presidents, past Co-Chairs, and representatives of other States Parties and organizations.” Traditionally, Co-Rapporteurs (positions which no longer exist), Coordinators of the informal Contact Groups and Sponsorship Programme, the President-Designate and Secretary-General Designate of Meetings of the States Parties / Review Conferences, the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, and the International Committee of the Red Cross have been invited to participate in the work of the Coordinating Committee. In 2006, the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs, on behalf of the UN Mine Action Team, was invited to participate in the meetings of the Coordinating Committee. In 2011, further to the revised agreement on implementation support between the States Parties and the Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining (GICHD), the GICHD was invited as well.

Other participants

In accordance with the “Directive of the States Parties to the Implementation Support Unit,” which was adopted at the Tenth Meeting of the States Parties in 2010, the Implementation Support Unit (ISU) is mandated to “prepare, support and carry out follow-up activities from formal and informal meetings under the Convention including (…) the Coordinating Committee,” and to “provide substantive and other support to the President, President-Designate, Co-Chairs and Co-Rapporteurs in their work related to all such meetings.”

COORDINATING COMMITTEE MEETING SUMMARIES

• Coordinating Committee President’s Summary, 1 February 2013 PDF 110KB