ARTICLE 9
NATIONAL IMPLEMENTATION MEASURES
Encourage the government to pass legislation or adopt other legally binding measures that would impose penal sanctions for any potential future violations of the treaty, and would provide for full implementation of all aspects of the treaty. National implementation measures are key to ensuring compliance on the national level by States Parties.
Ensure as many of the States Parties with domestic legislation ‘in process’ comply with Article 9 by completing all the necessary steps. As of May 2006, the following States Parties are in the process of developing national legislation and should be encourage to finish as soon as possible: Bangladesh, Benin, Chad, Chile, DR Congo, Djibouti, Gabon, Guinea, Jamaica, Kenya, Malawi, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Peru, Philippines, Rwanda, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland and Uganda.
Ensure other States Parties initiate this process. As of May 2006, the following states had not shown any progress enacting legislation and should be encouraged to initiate the process immediately: Albania, Afghanistan, Angola, Argentina, Bahamas, Barbados, Bhutan, Bolivia, Botswana, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Comoros, Republic of Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Cyprus, Dominica, Ecuador, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gambia, Ghana, Greece, Grenada, Guyana, Latvia, Liberia, Lithuania, Maldives, Nauru, Niue, St Kitta and Nevis, St Lucia, Sao Tomé e Principe, Serbia and Montenegro, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Timor-Leste, Togo, Turkmenistan and Uruguay.
The following states have declared that they do not believe any new law is required to implement the Treaty. They should be reminded about the need to impose penal sanctions for treaty violations and to ensure that all aspects of treaty implementation are covered by national laws: Algeria, Andorra, Antigua and Barbuda, Belarus, Bulgaria, Central African Republic, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Estonia, Guinea-Bissau, Holy See, Jordan, Kiribati, Lesotho, FYR Macedonia, Madagascar, Mexico, Moldova, Netherlands, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Portugal, Qatar, Romania, Samoa, San Marino, Senegal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey and Venezuela.
More information :
See www.icbl.org/treaty/legislation or
the ICRC national implementation database at http://www.icrc.org/ihl-nat