2017 IM
The Convention’s intersessional meetings took place on 8-9 June 2017, at the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) building in Geneva, Switzerland. A group photo with delegates took place under the Broken Chair to commemorate the 20 years since the adoption and signing of the Convention.
Summary
The intersessional meetings were opened by the President of the Sixteenth Meeting of the States Parties (16MSP), Ambassador Thomas Hajnoczi of Austria, and the Director of the Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining, Ambassador Stefano Toscano.
The Chair of the Committee on Victim Assistance, Colombia, and the members of the Committee, Belgium, Croatia and Ecuador presented the Committee's activities and preliminary observations.
The following States Parties that have indicated that they are responsible for significant numbers of landmine survivors engaged with the Committee’s preliminary observations and/or provided updates on their efforts: Croatia, Peru, Iraq, Sudan and Colombia.
The following other delegations shared views and information on matters related to victim assistance: Chile, European Union, Italy, Belgium, Austria, Canada, Australia, Turkey, Thailand, Ireland, ICBL and the UN Inter-Agency Coordination Group on Mine Action.
The Chair of the Committee on Article 5 Implementation, Zambia, and the members of the Committee, Chile and Switzerland presented the Committee’s activities and preliminary observations.
One State Party which has completed the fulfilment of its Article 5 obligations provided an update: Algeria
The following State Party which indicated in 2017 that it discovered previously unknown mined areas provided an update on its discovery: Mozambique. Mozambique's update was followed by comments from Ireland and the ICBL.
Five States Parties which have submitted a request for extension for formal consideration by the Sixteenth Meeting of the States Parties were invited to present highlights of their requests for extension: Angola, Ecuador, Iraq, Thailand and Zimbabwe. The presentations from these States Parties were followed by comments from the ICBL.
One State Party was invited to provide an update on the status of its request: Ukraine. Ukraine's presentation was followed by comments from the following delegations: ICBL, Netherlands, Canada, Austria, Switzerland and Ireland.
The following States Parties and organisations delivered remarks of a general nature on the extension requests: European Union, Chile, Afghanistan and MAG.
The following States Parties which had been requested to submit updated work plans in accordance with decisions on their extension requests presented an overview of their updated work plans or an update on the status of preparation of their updated work plan: Ethiopia, Niger and Senegal.
The following States Parties with Article 5 obligations in 2019 provided updates on progress towards completion of their Article 5 obligations: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Cyprus, Serbia, Sudan and the United Kingdom. These updates were followed by comments from Argentina.
The following States Parties that are in the process of implementing Article 5 engaged with the Committee’s preliminary observations and/or provided updates on their efforts: Colombia, Peru, Cambodia, Turkey, Yemen, Tajikistan and Mauritania.
The following additional delegations shared views on matters related to Article 5 implementation: Switzerland, Canada, Bolivia, Netherlands, Austria, Mexico, Morocco and MAG.
The following States Parties provided a written submission related to Article 5: Afghanistan and Belgium.
The Chair of the Committee on the Enhancement of Cooperation and Assistance, the Netherlands, and the Committee members, Algeria, Canada and Uganda, presented the Committee’s activities.
The following delegations shared views on matters related to cooperation and assistance: European Union, Italy, United Kingdom, Austria, Mexico, Turkey, Switzerland, Germany, Australia, Iraq, Peru on behalf of Ecuador and Peru, Colombia, Afghanistan, Uganda and Croatia.
In addition, the following States Parties provided a written submission on matters related to cooperation and assistance: Argentina, Netherlands and Japan.
The Chair of the Committee on Cooperative Compliance, the 16MSP President, presented the Committee’s activities and preliminary observations.
The following delegations responded to the Committee’s preliminary observations and or shared views on matters related to cooperative compliance: Sudan, Ukraine, Yemen, Austria, Croatia, Netherlands and the ICBL.
The President of the Sixteenth Meeting of the States Parties, Ambassador Thomas Hajnoczi of Austria, chaired a panel discussion on meeting the aspirations of 2025 as emphasised in the Maputo+15 Declaration and the need for a concerted effort and increased cooperation amongst key actors.
During the panel, operators presented their assessments of the challenges they face and possible areas of improvement to ensure significant progress in the implementation of mine clearance and other key obligations between 2017 and 2025.
Panellists included the following: Mr. Richard Maccormac, Head of the Danish Demining Group, Ms. Camille Wallen, Head of Policy and Evaluation at the Halo Trust, Mr. Chris Loughran, Director of Policy at the Mines Advisory Group and Mr. Christian Holmboe Ruge, Head of Policy at Norwegian People's Aid.
The following delegations shared views on the topic of the thematic panel: Mexico, Colombia, GICHD and the UN Inter-Agency Coordination Group on Mine Action.
The 16MSP Presidency presented its activities on universalization and invited interested delegations to offer their views on this matter.
The following delegations shared views and information on matters related to the universalization of the Convention: Sri Lanka, Morocco, Canada, European Union, France, Belgium, ICBL, ICRC and Turkey.
The 16MSP Presidency presented its activities and preliminary observations on stockpile destruction.
The following State Party that has completed the destruction of its stockpiled anti-personnel mines provided an update: Belarus.
The following States Parties which have missed their Article 4 deadlines responded to the President’s observations and/or provided updates on the status of their stockpile destruction programmes: Ukraine, Greece and Bulgaria.
The following delegation shared views on matters related to stockpile destruction: ICBL.
In addition, the 16MSP President invited States Parties which have discovered previously unknown stockpiled anti-personnel mines and States Parties which have indicated that they are retaining anti-personnel mines for permitted purposes to provide updates.
No delegation shared views on matters related to previously unknown stockpiled anti-personnel mines or mines retained for permitted reasons.
The 16MSP President took stock of the situation concerning transparency reporting and in this regard highlighted two specific challenges: the rate of reporting and the quality of the reports.
No delegation shared views on matters related to reporting.
The 16MSP President presented a draft agenda and draft programme of work for the Sixteenth Meeting of the States Parties.
In addition, the 16MSP President provided an update on preparations for the 16MSP.
The 16MSP Executive-Secretary provided an overview of the status of the assessed contributions for the Sixteenth Meetings of the States Parties.
The following delegations shared their views in relation to the assessed contributions: European Union, Netherlands, Austria, Belgium, United Kingdom, Ireland and France.
The President recalled that eight new Committee Members will need to be elected at the 16MSP and reminded delegations to notify the Presidency of their interest.
The 16MSP President recalled that at the Fifteenth Meeting of the States Parties, States Parties noted with appreciation the offer made by Afghanistan to preside over the Seventeeth Meeting of the States Parties in 2018. Afghanistan took the floor and indicated that the proposed location and dates for the Seventeenth Meeting of the States Parties would be as follows: Geneva, week of 19 November 2018.
Afghanistan also proposed that that a Pledging Conference would take place early 2018 and that the 2018 intersessional meetings would take place on 7 and 8 June 2018.
Australia, in its capacity as the Coordinator of the Convention’s informal Sponsorship Programme, provided an update on the programme.
The ISU Director presented an update on the ISU’s activities and financing.
No delegation shared views on matters related to the Implementation Support Unit.
In addition, the 16MSP provided an update on the Pledging Conference.
The intersessional meetings were closed by the 16MSP Presidency.
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