All States Parties present at the Ninth Meeting of the States Parties will be considered as “Participants” in the meeting. Other States are welcome to attend the meeting and may participate as “Observers”.
According to the draft rules of procedure relevant organisation may attend and participate as “observers”. In practice this has included the following: UNHCR, UNDP, UNICEF, WHO, WFP, OCHA, FAO, OHCHR, ASEAN, SAARC, GCC, AU, SADC, PIF, OSCE, SADC, NATO, EC, OAS, Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie, the Commonwealth, the World Bank and Regional Development Banks, the International Committee of the Red Cross, the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, the Sovereign Order of Malta, the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, and the Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining.
Other organisations that have received an invitation from the Coordinating Committee also may attend as observers subject to approval of the Ninth Meeting of the States Parties. In issuing invitation to others to attend the Ninth Meeting of the States Parties as observers, the Coordinating Committee will take into consideration criteria such as whether the proposed observer is a non-profit entity and whether its purpose and activities are consistent with the object and purpose of the Convention.
In addition, according to the draft rules of procedure, the Ninth Meeting of the States Parties will be held in public, implying that the even is open to the media and that interested individual may witness the proceedings from the public gallery.
States and interested organisations should follow the procedure as described in these pages to ensure that the Executive Secretary receives appropriate notification of the composition of delegations.
