Support to States Parties to Implement Article 9

The Committee on Cooperative Compliance chaired by the Convention President, has been mandated among others, to support “States Parties in their efforts to implement and report on matters contained in Article 9”, such as taking “all appropriate legal, administrative and other measures, including the imposition of penal sanctions, to prevent and suppress any activity prohibited […] undertaken by persons or on territory under its jurisdiction or control.”

To date however, 52 States Parties have not yet acted or reported on progress in implementation of Article 9. To address this concern, Action 50 of the Oslo Action Plan calls on the 52 to “urgently take all appropriate legal, administrative and other measures to implement those obligations and report on the measures taken no later than by the Twentieth Meeting of the States Parties” (20MSP).

With the 20MSP taking place slightly over a year away, the Committee --with Chair Netherlands, members Chile, Panama, Poland, and Spain, held a workshop together with New Zealand, and ICRC, to create awareness of some of the tools available to support these 52 States.

New Zealand provided a practical example of implementation of Article 9 by a State Party that is not mine affected, which is the case for the majority of the 52 States that remain with outstanding obligations.